Congo-Kinshasa: Ebola Crisis-The Vaccines Debate

analysis

As I write this piece, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is reeling from an Ebola crisis with the World Health Organization (WHO) having declared it a global health emergency. It is reported to have killed about 1,800 people so far. The crisis has been worsened by internal conflicts and mobility of people fleeing from the conflicts. I will continue with information gleaned from the BBC and Bloomberg on the Ebola crisis and deployment of vaccines.

The BBC says that a second vaccine be introduced to fight Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo, currently in the grip of its worst outbreak. There is one vaccine developed by Merck and already used effectively during the crisis in West Africa, which claimed the lives of 11,000 people. There is a second vaccine by Johnson &Johnson, which is proven effective, but there are concerns that it is untested. Leading health experts say the second vaccine is safe and could be an important tool in holding back the spread of the virus.

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