Congo Begins Vaccination Program Against Ebola as Outbreak Spreads to 2 New Areas

Congolese authorities have begun vaccinating healthcare professionals and frontline workers against the Ebola virus, as the outbreak spreads to two more health zones.

Congo’s National Institute of Public Health (INSP) said in an Aug. 27 statement that the vaccination program would be targeting those groups of workers in the provinces of Tshopo, Bas-Uele, and Haut-Uele.

“The launch of vaccination in Kisangani thus marks a new stage in the efforts deployed by the Government of the Republic to protect frontline workers, limit the transmission of the virus and strengthen the national response to Ebola,” the statement said.

“Protecting personnel involved in the response remains a priority to ensure an effective, coordinated, and sustainable response to the epidemic.”

The current outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo ebolavirus. It has no approved treatment or vaccine, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month that clinical trials are underway to find a vaccine for it.

Frontline and healthcare workers are receiving the Ervebo vaccine, which was effective in past Ebola outbreaks caused by a different, more common type of the virus.

“We have decided to use the Ervebo vaccine to protect first those who are on the front line,” Health Minister Roger Kamba said at the launch of the vaccination campaign in Kisangani, Tshopo, which is one of the six provinces affected by Ebola in the eastern part of Congo.

Health authorities said Ervebo could offer some protection against the Bundibugyo strain because the two viruses are related. However, it’s still being studied whether the Ervedo vaccine can prevent illness in people infected with Bundibugyo Ebola.

Outbreaks in 2 New Health Zones

The INSP said in an Aug. 27 statement that to date, there are 5,794 confirmed cases, and there have been 2,786 deaths as a result of Ebola.

According to the statement, the outbreak has spread to two new health zones in the province of North Kivu, bringing the total number of health zones with confirmed cases to 60 out of 151, or 40 percent.

Doctors Without Borders said on Aug. 28 that it has opened a new Ebola treatment center in Beni, North Kivu, to enable a faster response to the outbreak.

Earlier this week, the WHO said that the number of cases of Ebola in Congo continues to rise.

“We have slowed the acceleration, but we have not yet bent ​this curve,” said Dr. Marie Roseline Belizaire, director of emergency preparedness for the WHO African region on Aug. 26.

Belizaire said this was the third Bundibugyo variant outbreak ever in Africa, following outbreaks in Uganda in 2007 and Congo in 2012.

“But the scale of this outbreak, now, is unlike anything we have seen for this species, Bundibugyo,” she said. “The two earlier events together caused roughly 200 cases, and the current outbreak, as of Aug. 24, has already surpassed 5,600 cases.”

Uganda Outbreak Over

Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in ​neighboring Uganda is officially over, she said.

Belizaire said that Aug. 26 was “the 42nd day since the last confirmed case was discharged from the treatment center in Uganda.”

“That means two full incubation cycles, making sure that no more residual risk of Ebola is in the country, and [marking] the end of the outbreak in Uganda,” she said.

The all-clear follows a declaration from the Ugandan government on ​July 28 that it was free ​of the disease, which resulted in 20 cases and caused two ⁠deaths in the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.