As the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Africa this week, another vaccine was being rolled out in Guinea, trying to stop a new outbreak of Ebola in its pathways.
The big vaccine went ahead on Tuesday (February 23) after 11,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine landed in a West African country as part of an emergency response to the uprising, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Twitter.
The Ervebo vaccines (rVSV-ZEBOV-GP) are the first to be extracted from an emergency stock store in Basel, Switzerland. The stock, which was announced by the WHO, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and partners last month will eventually give access to low- and lower-income countries access to 500,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine.
Approximately 9,000 additional doses were also expected to reach Guinea from the United States, the COVID-19 response, the complexity of cross-border dynamics and community engagement, ”he said.
Dissemination in Guinea is coming as Ghana became the first country outside India to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX facility, which was established during the pandemic. global distribution to ensure proper access to vaccines.
Wolz believes that the Ebola response in Guinea needs to be swift and well-researched to reduce the risk from the upheaval of as severe as 2014-2016. She hopes that it will be easier to find treatments to encourage people to access health care and to separate quickly.
“If the messages are communicated appropriately, we have a much better chance of being able to find effective communication and break the transmission chains,” she said.
During the first outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, between 2014 and 2016, 28,000 people were infected and around 11,000 died in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.