“The non-objection was given. Now there’s a Medecins Sans Frontiers team that is arriving (in Congo) today to validate the protocol with the technical teams,” Jonathan Simba, a health ministry spokesman, told Reuters by telephone.
The vaccine was developed by Merck and is known as rVSV-ZEBOV. It has not been licensed yet but it has proven to be highly protective against Ebola in clinical trials that were published last December.
The vaccine was studied in a trial in Guinea in 2015 involving a total of 11,841 people. Of the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination. In comparison, there were 23 cases 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine, according to the study reported in the journal Lancet.
The rVSV-ZEBOV was developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The vaccine was licensed to NewLink Genetics, who in turn licensed it to Merck & Co. As of Friday, DR Congo has 52 suspected cases of Ebola, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman in Congo, Eugene Kabambi, said by telephone. He added that the situation appears to be under control.
The details of the vaccination campaign are to be presented at a meeting of the health ministry and its partners either today or on Tuesday. The biggest concern appears to be the logistics of getting the vaccine to the region, which is isolated and without roads.
