Cote d’Ivoire starts Ebola vaccination

Abidjan/Brazzaville: Cote d’Ivoire has launched Ebola vaccination of high-risk populations, including health workers and first responders in Abidjan, where an Ebola outbreak was declared last Saturday.
The West African country was able to swiftly begin the vaccination on Monday with the rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine manufactured by Merck as the vaccine doses that the World Health Organisation (WHO) helped secure to fight a four-month long outbreak in Guinea were sent quickly by Guinea to Cote d’Ivoire.
The vaccine deployment from Guinea included 2,000 doses from Merck that are being used under the “ring strategy” where people who have come into contact with a confirmed Ebola patient are given the vaccine, as well as first responders and health workers.
In addition, Guinea sent around 3,000 vaccine doses manufactured by Johnson & Johnson which were to be used to boost the vaccination in areas not experiencing active transmission.
Guinea has also deployed five vaccination experts and provided monoclonal antibody treatments to Cote d’Ivoire. – WHO