The Democratic Republic of Congo has received its first shipment of more than 16,000 doses of an Ebola vaccine as authorities race to contain an outbreak that has killed more than 2,500 people and is spreading rapidly across six provinces.
A batch of 16,520 doses of the Ervebo vaccine arrived in Kinshasa late Friday, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said, with more than 50,000 additional doses expected by Monday.
“These doses would strengthen the government’s response to Ebola and contribute to the protection of populations, with the support of our partners,” Kamba told reporters at Kinshasa airport.
The World Health Organization said Thursday that 70,000 doses of Ervebo would be supplied to Congo from the global Ebola vaccine stockpile. Of those, 20,000 doses will be used in a Phase 3 clinical trial examining whether the vaccine can protect against the strain responsible for the current outbreak, while 50,000 will be administered to frontline and health workers.
The vaccine, developed by Merck and manufactured in Germany, is licensed and recommended for outbreaks caused by the Zaire strain of Ebola. The current outbreak, however, is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain, for which no vaccine or specific treatment has yet been approved.
Scientists do not yet know whether Ervebo provides protection against Bundibugyo. Early evidence, including animal studies, suggests it could offer some cross-protection, prompting WHO experts this month to recommend a large-scale human trial.
Kamba said Ervebo has been used extensively in previous Ebola outbreaks, including during the major epidemic that struck Congo and neighboring countries between 2018 and 2020.
“This vaccine has already been used several times, and in particular on a very large scale during the 2018-2020 outbreak,” he said.
The latest outbreak, Congo’s 17th, was officially declared May 15 but is believed to have been spreading for weeks before that. It has reached 56 health zones across Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Bas-Uele and Tshopo provinces, many of which face severe health care shortages, limited government presence and persistent insecurity involving armed groups.
The Health Ministry’s latest situation update puts the number of confirmed infections at 5,290, including more than 2,500 deaths.
The outbreak is showing no signs of slowing. Julien Harneis, the United Nations’ senior Ebola coordinator, warned Friday that the epidemic is “growing exponentially.”
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, also warned that communities affected by the outbreak are not receiving enough support to contain the virus.
The group said training for health workers and community leaders must be urgently expanded, particularly on detecting suspected cases, referring patients and preventing and controlling infections within communities.
The uncertainty surrounding the Bundibugyo strain has increased the urgency of developing targeted vaccines. Two candidates are already in clinical trials, one developed by U.S.-based Moderna using mRNA technology and another by the University of Oxford in Britain.
A separate vaccine known as rVSV Bundibugyo is also being developed by Singapore-based Hilleman Laboratories and has been described by WHO as the most promising candidate specifically targeting the strain.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids and can cause severe fever and other life-threatening symptoms. The disease has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past five decades.
