Ebola defeated?

An Ebola vaccine has been approved by European drugs regulators in a move hailed as a 'triumph for public health'. As Daily Mail reports, the so-called Merck vaccine was given the green light this afternoon and is likely to get a full marketing licence from the European Commission within a few weeks. It is already being used under emergency guidelines to try to halt the deadly outbreak currently ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

The vaccine, developed by US drugmaker Merck and Co, has been given to more than 237,000 in the Congo. In trials, it's been proven to be 97 per cent effective at protecting against the rapidly spreading virus, which is fatal in half of cases. It is now also being reviewed under a fast-track system by regulators in America.  The World Health Organization (WHO) said the advancement was a 'triumph for public health' that would save many lives.  'This vaccine has already saved many lives in the current Ebola outbreak, and the decision by European regulator will help it to eventually save many more,' the WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

The Congo Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,157 people since the middle of last year.  It is the second largest Ebola outbreak in history, after a 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa that killed more than 11,300. The Merck vaccine, which the company has now brand-named Ervebo, is likely to get a full marketing licence from the European Commission within a few weeks. Until now it has been called the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, and began being administered when the outbreak began last August. It was chosen because, in 2015, it was proven to be safe and effective in a study of more than 16,000 people in Africa, Europe and the US.

The jab protects against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus - the one that most commonly causes outbreaks. A 'ring vaccination' approach traces people who may have been in contact with someone newly infected with Ebola. Merck said in a statement its priority now was to get regulatory approval of its Ervebo manufacturing site in Germany so that licensed supply of the vaccine 'can be used to support global public health preparedness.'  The shot is also being reviewed under a fast-track system by regulators in the United States, with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year. 

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) came under fire for restricting supplies of the shot to a fraction of the population. The aid group Doctors Without Borders, also known by its French acronym, MSF, slammed there had been 'largely insufficient' vaccination rates.  A second experimental second Ebola vaccine, developed by drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, is planned to be introduced in the Congo. The J&J vaccine had been rejected by DRC's former health minister Oly Ilunga, who cited the risks of introducing a new product in communities where mistrust of Ebola responders is already high.

The new Ad26-ZEBOV-GP vaccine will arrive in the eastern city of Goma, in North Kivu province, on October 18 and be used from the beginning of November. Ebola virus causes haemorrhagic fever and spreads from person to person through direct contact with body fluids. It kills around half of those it infects.  There are currently no licensed treatments for the deadly infection, but scientists said in August they were a step closer to being able to cure it. Two experimental drugs showed survival rates of as much as 90 per cent in a clinical trial in Congo.