The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has given reasons for the non-availability of vaccines for the current Ebola outbreak spreading across Africa.
Director General of the Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya, told Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ programme on Thursday that the lack of vaccine is because partners consider Ebola an African issue.
“If this outbreak was in Western countries, vaccines would already be available,” Kaseya said.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare strain of Ebola for which there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
Kaseya said unlike the Democratic Republic of Congo’s strain, which caused the 2014 to 2016 West Africa epidemic and has a licensed vaccine, Ervebo, the Bundibugyo strain has no licensed shield.
According to him, the Africa CDC has initiated clinical trials of new vaccines, including a new Bundibugyo vaccine manufactured in Egypt.
He said the current outbreak is the most geographically widespread in history, affecting three regions of Africa, with over 9,500 infections and about 4,600 deaths in DR Congo alone.
Recall that Nigeria confirmed its first case on Tuesday in a woman who arrived from Uganda on October 3, and since then, 44 contacts have been under monitoring.
