﻿ Ebola vaccine: Why is a new jab so controversial? | Feature Article

Saturday, 21 September

Ebola vaccine: Why is a new jab so controversial?

Feature Article



So what are the concerns, and are they justified?

Tried and tested?






The WHO says this vaccine is proven safe and effective against Ebola, but that more testing is still needed for it to be licensed.

So, we're in a similar place with the new vaccine as we were in 2015 with the current one - there's substantial evidence that it's safe and that it could be effective, but it hasn't been tested in an outbreak, and hasn't been licensed.

Is there enough vaccine?
If there's already a vaccine which has been proven effective against Ebola, why not just roll out more of it?

In July, the WHO Emergency Committee said it "recognises the shortage of supply" of the Merck vaccine.

Dr Josie Golding of the Wellcome Trust, says it's likely there won't be enough of the vaccine to deal with the current outbreak.

"If so, this would have devastating consequences. We strongly believe there is an urgent need to deploy and assess a second Ebola vaccine, developed by Johnson and Johnson."

In the short term, the available doses of the vaccine may be sufficient, but not if the outbreak persists.

The Merck drug firm says there is enough vaccine to immunise nearly 500,000 individuals at the current dose, and is in the process of producing more.

About 1.5 million doses of the vaccine are available.

There are around 10 million people in the two affected provinces combined.

The current vaccine is only being given to health workers and people who might have been exposed to the virus.



It is hoped this would prevent the virus from spreading.

Community mistrust
The DR Congo government has cited concerns about the complexities of using two vaccines together in the response.

It says there is a risk of creating confusion and increasing mistrust among affected communities.

The fight against the current Ebola epidemic has been marked by community mistrust towards the response.

There are also concerns that the new vaccine - which requires two injections 56 days apart - may be difficult to administer in a region where the population is highly mobile, and insecurity is rife.

Source: BBC

Source: Emmanuel Mensah