Doctors Without Borders, MSF, is calling for wider access to the ERVEBO Ebola vaccine as the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak continues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The organization wants the World Health Organization’s immunization advisory group to reconsider restrictions limiting the vaccine’s use to research protocols.
Although ERVEBO is licensed against a different Ebola virus species, animal studies and immunological evidence suggest it could offer protection against Bundibugyo. MSF says only 70,000 of the 500,000 doses requested by DR Congo have been released, and is urging manufacturers and international partners to increase supplies alongside surveillance, contact tracing and clinical care.