More than 16,000 doses of Ervebo vaccine arrive in Ebola-hit DRC

More than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) late Friday, an AFP journalist saw, as the country faces the deadliest Ebola outbreak in its history.

The DRC's 17th Ebola outbreak, which has killed thousands of people, was declared on May 15 but is thought to have been spreading for several weeks prior.

It has hit regions in the north and east where the presence of the state is weak, health infrastructure is largely lacking and myriad armed groups have roamed for decades.

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday that the DRC would receive a total of 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, produced in Germany.

The vaccine, developed by the pharmaceutical company Merck, is approved against the Zaire strain of the virus, but not against the Bundibugyo strain currently circulating in the country.

WHO experts still do not know whether Ervebo protects humans against the Bundibugyo strain, but early data, notably from animal trials, suggest it could offer some protection.

The Ervebo vaccine "has already been used several times, and in particular on a very large scale during the 2018-2020 outbreak", Samuel Roger Kamba, the DRC's minister of health, told the press.

He was speaking on the tarmac of Kinshasa airport, where a batch of 16,250 doses was delivered by plane on Friday.

Of the 70,000 doses made available to the DRC, 20,000 are intended for a clinical trial, and 50,000 for "frontline and health workers" in the DRC, the WHO explained on Thursday.

The Ebola outbreak in the DRC has already caused 2,516 deaths among 5,290 confirmed cases, according to the latest data published by the Congolese authorities.

It "is growing exponentially", warned Julien Harneis, the UN's senior Ebola coordinator, on Friday.

This month, WHO vaccine experts recommended a full-scale human trial of Ervebo, the only existing approved Ebola vaccine, to see if it offered cross-protection against the Bundibugyo strain.

Two vaccines specifically targeting the Bundibugyo strain are in clinical trial phases: one is being developed by the US-based group Moderna, which uses mRNA technology, and the other by Britain's University of Oxford.

In addition, an "rVSV Bundibugyo" vaccine, described by the WHO as "the most promising", is to be developed by Singapore-based Hilleman Laboratories.