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WHO, Partners Announce Ebola Vaccine Stockpile

Keminni Amanor

   Parts of the world ravaged by outbreaks of Ebola can now heave a small
   sigh of relief thanks to the stockpile of vaccine, the International
   Coordinating Group (ICG) announced Monday.

   The single-dose vaccine will allow affected countries, particularly
   those in Africa, to better contain the deadly virus during future
   outbreaks.

   "This new stockpile is an excellent example of solidarity, science and
   cooperation between international organizations and the private sector
   to save lives," Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general,
   said in a Tuesday [1]press release on the UNICEF website.

   The vaccine development is a joint effort of four leading international
   health and humanitarian organizations: World Health Organization (WHO),
   UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
   Societies (IFRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), with financial
   support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

   The vaccine was piloted among 350,000 people in Guinea and in the
   2018-2020 Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo under a
   protocol for "compassionate use."

   It has since been licensed by the European Medicines Agency, the U.S.
   Food and Drug Administration and eight African countries.

   Both Guinea and Congo were slow to recover from the epidemic that
   ravaged West Africa and affected people in other parts of the world.

   More than 15,000 cases of the hemorrhagic feverlike disease were
   recorded. With a fatality rate of up to 90%, more than 11,300 people
   died between 2014 and 2016, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease
   Control and Prevention.

   Two years after it was brought under control, Ebola reared its head
   again in the Congo for two more years.

References

   1. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-who-ifrc-and-msf-announce-establishment-global-ebola-vaccine-stockpile

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