This archive report was first published on 23 September 2019.
As the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to claim lives, the country has taken a crucial step in its fight against the virus. In August 2018, the DRC's latest Ebola epidemic began, and it has already killed more than 2,100 people, making it the second deadliest outbreak of the virus, after the West Africa pandemic of 2014-2016.
Despite the challenges posed by chronic insecurity in the affected provinces of eastern DRC, the controversy surrounding the response has centered on the use of vaccines. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been pushing the Kinshasa government to approve the use of a second experimental product, made by Johnson & Johnson, to protect those living outside of direct transmission zones.
On September 17, the DRC had registered a total of 3,145 cases of Ebola since the outbreak began over a year ago, including 2,103 deaths. The WHO has declared the Ebola epidemic a "public health emergency of international concern", a rare designation used only for the gravest epidemics.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised the latest decision by DRC authorities, who he said "have once again shown leadership and their determination to end this outbreak as soon as possible".
According to the WHO, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be provided under approved protocols to targeted at-risk populations in areas that do not have active Ebola transmission as an additional tool to extend protection against the virus.
However, Doctors Without Borders, which has repeatedly criticized WHO's leadership of the Ebola response, levelled fresh criticism against the agency on Monday. The charity said that the (Merck) vaccine is rationed by the WHO and that too few people at risk are protected today.
WHO denied limiting the availability of the vaccine, saying it was doing "everything possible" to end the epidemic. "Along with the DRC government, no one wants to bring this epidemic to an end more than WHO," the agency's emergency director, Mike Ryan, said in a statement.
