Thousands of experimental vaccines have arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where health workers are preparing to use them among patients who have had some contact with people infected with Ebola.
More than 7,500 doses of the vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, arrived on Monday to an area of the Congo known as the northwestern Equator Province in Congo, where 26 people have died and least 46 more are suspected to have been infected with Ebola. The virus, which is deadly when left untreated, is spread through direct contact with an infected person, causing body aches, bleeding, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Most cases are in Bikoro, a remote rural town, though four cases have now been confirmed in the city of Mbandaka, which has 1.2 million people. Last week the World Health Organization called the spread to the larger city “concerning” because traveling from Bikoro to Mbandaka is difficult, and the latest cases could indicate that the virus is spreading faster than suspected.
Pharmaceutical company Merck had donated the vaccines and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is contributing $1 million toward operational expenses. At least 600 people have been identified to receive the vaccine, chosen because they had contact with another person who had contact with an infected person. Healthcare workers and people who assist with burial will also receive vaccines.
The WHO has sent special vaccine carriers to the area in order to keep the drug at freezing temperatures.
“Implementing the Ebola ring vaccination is a complex procedure,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said in a statement. “The vaccines need to be stored at a temperature of minus 60 to minus 80 degrees centigrade and so transporting them to and storing them in affected areas is a major challenge.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said that vaccines would be key to controlling the outbreak.
The vaccine has been tried in Guinea in 2015 and was shown to be highly protective. Among the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded nine days or more after vaccination.
