The U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the first time approved a vaccine that protects against the deadly Ebola virus.
The vaccine, Ervebo, is for the prevention of Ebola virus disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus in people 18 and older, the agency said Thursday.
The FDA noted that cases of Ebola are extremely rare in the United States, and those that have been infected acquired the virus in other countries.
“While the risk of Ebola virus disease in the U.S. remains low, the U.S. government remains deeply committed to fighting devastating Ebola outbreaks in Africa, including the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Anna Abram, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs, said in a statement.
[Related: One year later, Ebola outbreak isn’t slowing down]
The virus is contagious and is transmitted through direct contact with body fluids, blood, and tissues of infected people or animals, as well as surfaces and materials contaminated with the fluids.
Between 2014 and 2016, more than 11,000 people died from Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is now experiencing the world’s second-largest Ebola outbreak, according to the FDA, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths. The country and the World Health Organization used Ervebo in 2018 as an “investigational vaccine” to help mitigate the outbreak, the agency said.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar called the vaccine “a triumph of American global health leadership.”
Today, the @US_FDA issued the first approval of a vaccine for the prevention of #Ebola—a triumph of American global health leadership. @HHSGov‘s @BARDA provided significant support for the development of the vaccine. https://t.co/d1lXZUMPk5 pic.twitter.com/y57y3z5rU2
— Secretary Alex Azar (@SecAzar) December 20, 2019
