DR Congo Starts Ebola Vaccinations

By AFP

Oct 14, 2021 05:43 PM   

Medical workers disinfect the coffin of a deceased unconfirmed Ebola patient inside an Ebola Treatment Centre run by the Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA), in Beni on August 13, 2018. Photo: VCG

Vaccination against the deadly Ebola disease began on Wednesday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo(DRC)'s eastern city of Beni, the WHO said, five days after reports of a new case.

The fresh case was reported in North Kivu, the same province where the vaccination program began.

"People at high risk, including contacts of the confirmed case and first responders will receive the doses as the health authorities move to curb the spread of the virus," said a World Health Organization statement.

The new case, confirmed on October 8, was of a 2-year-old boy who had died two days earlier in a local clinic, the statement added. He was from the same community where three family members had died in September after experiencing Ebola-like symptoms.

Around 1,000 doses of the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine were delivered to the eastern city of Goma for distribution, said the WHO, and Kinshasa had more if required.

The government in Kinshasa announced the return of the disease in the east of the country on Friday.

In May, the DRC declared the end of its Ebola outbreak, during which 12 cases were reported, with six deaths and hundreds of people vaccinated.

AFP