The World Health Organisation, WHO, has confirmed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will begin using a second Ebola vaccine as part of efforts to curtail the epidemic that has killed more than two thousand people in the last 13 months.
The experimental vaccine, manufactured by the US-based firm Johnson & Johnson, will be introduced from mid-October in areas which do not have “active Ebola transmission.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the DRC authorities, in deciding to deploy the second experimental vaccine to extend protection against this deadly virus, have once again shown leadership and their determination to end this outbreak as soon as possible.
The Johnson & Johnson product will complement another experimental vaccine produced by US pharmaceutical giant Merck, which has been administered to approximately 225 thousand people to date.
The introduction of a second vaccine has been a source of controversy among health officials in DRC, where Ebola erupted in August last year.
