Four African countries namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ghana and Zambia can now distribute Ebola vaccines.
These countries have now been licensed to distribute the vaccine to fight the deadly virus, the World Heath Organization (WHO) has said.
The WHO has also hailed the licensing of Ervebo vaccine, manufactured by Merck as a major “milestone”.
Preliminary study results by the WHO showed that the vaccine has a 97.5% efficacy rate.
The WHO’s data also revealed that vaccinating people who are already infected reduces their chances of dying.
“The approval of the Ebola vaccine by these countries is another milestone in the fight against this unforgiving disease,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He adds that “Africa has rallied to cement hard-fought progress to keep its people safe from Ebola.”
Several countries have already launched vaccination campaigns to prevent the spread of the virus.
Such countries are vaccinating their populations with the same vaccine used for the first time in the city of Goma in eastern DR Congo in 2019.
DR Congo is already using vaccines made by US drug companies. The Johnson & Johnson manufactured vaccine was introduced to compliment that of Merck.
The Merck manufactured vaccine was introduced in 2019 and administered to thousands of people.
The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has infected more than 3,300 people and killed more than 2,200 since 2018.
Fighting the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo has been a major challenge with parts of the country still not secure.
Source: Africafeeds.com
