DR Congo joins hand with Rwanda to roll out Ebola vaccination

The Ministry of Health in Rwanda's capital, Kigali revealed in Thursday that the health authorities from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to roll out Ebola vaccination to commence this week.

This will be the first ever vaccination campaign against the Ebola Virus Disease for adults, adolescents and children aged two years living within the vicinity of a possible Ebola outbreak. According to the Ministry of Health in Kigali, the move comes after the World Health Organization prequalified the Ebola vaccine, Ervebo last month, paving the way for its use in high-risk countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbours.

UN agencies and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance committed to increasing access to immunisation in poor countries so that the people can procure the vaccine for regions at risk of Ebola outbreaks, APA News stated. The injectable vaccine has been shown to be effective in protecting people from the Ebola Zaire virus and is recommended by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE), the UN agency cited.

According to the Rwandan Minister of State in the Ministry of Health, Dr Patrick Ndimubanzi, although there is no recorded Ebola case in Rwanda, still this move from the government has been taken to strengthen preventive measures against the deadly disease by making the vaccination available to the population. "This vaccine is a new tool that complements the prevention measures against Ebola virus. It complements and does not replace all universal precautions for prevention, surveillance, diagnosis and early treatment," the Minister added.

"The vaccine that will complement the existing interventions has the potential of reducing new infections," Cosmos Kusimwa Bishisha, the Minister of health of Sud Kivu Province in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo said.