The Democratic Republic of Congo has been allocated 70,000 doses of Merck’s Ervebo Ebola vaccine to help contain its largest-ever Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday.
The doses were released from the global Ebola vaccine stockpile managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision after Congo requested emergency supplies last week.
WHO said 20,000 of the 70,000 doses will be used in a late-stage clinical trial to assess whether Ervebo can protect against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak.
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The Bundibugyo virus has no approved vaccine or treatment, and WHO said it was not yet known whether Ervebo, which is approved against the more common Zaire ebolavirus, can protect people from the strain.
The health agency said the clinical trial would provide important evidence on the vaccine’s effectiveness against the virus.
Government data show that confirmed Ebola cases in Congo have now exceeded 5,000, with 2,378 deaths recorded.
Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak became the country’s largest on record by case count in late July, surpassing the previous worst outbreak recorded between 2018 and 2020.
Earlier this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo remained a global emergency.
The ICG comprises WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Médecins Sans Frontières and UNICEF.
