The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Friday received the first batch of Ebola vaccine doses as it stepped up efforts to contain the ongoing outbreak that has infected more than 5,000 people and killed over 2,500.
A total of 16,520 doses of the Ervebo vaccine arrived at the N'djili International Airport in the capital Kinshasa, according to the DRC health ministry.
A total of 50,120 doses are expected to arrive between Aug. 21 and 24, the ministry said.
The World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision had approved an immediate initial release of 70,000 doses of Ervebo following a request from the DRC government.
Ervebo is licensed and recommended for outbreaks caused by Zaire ebolavirus, but its effectiveness against the Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak, remains uncertain.
Of the allocation, 20,000 doses will be used in a Phase 3 clinical trial to assess the vaccine's impact against the Bundibugyo virus, while 50,000 doses are intended for frontline and health workers.
The vaccines arrived as transmission remains active across the country.
As of Aug. 19, the DRC had recorded 5,290 confirmed cases and 2,516 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 47.6 percent, according to the latest government situation report released on Friday.
The DRC declared the current Ebola outbreak on May 15. It has since become the country's largest and deadliest Ebola epidemic on record and the second-largest globally.
-XINHUA
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