DR Congo: Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine rolled out
The second model of an Ebola vaccine has now been introduced in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Johnson & Johnson manufactured vaccine has been introduced to compliment that of Merck.
The Merck manufactured vaccine was introduced this year and administered to thousands of people.
That vaccine has been administered to over 250,000 people since the start of the outbreak in August 2018.
Health officials in the country say this latest move is to help combat the spread of the deadly virus in the country’s eastern provinces.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said in a statement on Thursday that the new vaccine has passed clinical trials.
It has never been tested in a real-world setting but will now be administered to 50,000 people in Goma, a city of two million on the Rwandan border.
Unlike the Merck vaccine, which requires a single shot, the J&J vaccine requires two injections eight weeks apart.
“The introduction of a second vaccine is not meant to replace [Merck’s] vaccine, but to complement it and hopefully provide us with an additional tool in the fight against future Ebola outbreaks,” John Johnson, who is leading the project for MSF said.
Officials in DR Congo say the country’s year-long Ebola outbreak has led to the death of at least 2,000.
According to government data the number of confirmed and probable cases has also hit a milestone of more than 3,000.
The worst epidemic was recorded between 2013-2016 in West Africa. More than 11,300 people died then out of 28,000 who were infected.
Source: Africafeeds.com
