Congo Receives 16,000 Ebola Vaccine Doses Amid Fastest Outbreak

Congo received 16,250 doses of the Ervebo vaccine late Friday at N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, as the country grapples with its fastest Ebola outbreak in history.

Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba confirmed the arrival. The doses are the first of 70,000 expected from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, announced on Thursday. More doses are expected early next week. The current outbreak has recorded 2,557 deaths out of 5,375 confirmed cases across six affected provinces. The UN's senior Ebola coordinator, Julien Harneis, warned Friday that the outbreak is growing exponentially and spreading faster and wider than the response, covering an area larger than France.

The outbreak, Congo's 17th, was officially declared May 15 but is believed to have been spreading for weeks beforehand. It is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, for which there is currently no approved treatment or vaccine. The Ervebo vaccine is licensed to treat the Zaire strain of Ebola, but early data from animal trials suggest it may offer some protection against Bundibugyo.

Of the 70,000 doses, 20,000 will be used in a Phase 3 clinical trial to test its effect on the Bundibugyo strain, while 50,000 are allocated to frontline and health workers. The current outbreak is on track to surpass the deadliest outbreak on record, which killed over 11,000 people across West Africa between 2014 and 2016.

Data from the Africa Centre for Disease Control shows transmission has not yet peaked and could reach three times its known rate. Efforts to contain the outbreak are hampered by armed conflict between the government and rebel groups, attacks on medical personnel and facilities, an itinerant labor population, displaced people, and a lack of critical infrastructure.

Some frontline workers, like nurse Sophie Mwadawa Kabundo and hygiene worker Martin Bolombi, reported not being paid. WHO vaccine experts recommended a full-scale human trial of Ervebo to see if it offered cross-protection against the Bundibugyo strain.