The US Food and Drug Administration has approved for the first time in the United States a vaccine that prevents the deadly Ebola virus.
The vaccine, Ervebo, was developed by Merck and protects against Ebola virus disease (EVD) caused by Zaire Ebola virus in people 18 and older.
Cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the US are extremely rare and have generally occurred when people already infected with the virus travel into the country or when health care workers have become infected treating those sickened by EVD.
“While the risk of Ebola virus disease in the U.S. remains low, the U.S. government remains deeply committed to fighting devastating Ebola outbreaks in Africa, including the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Anna Abram, FDA Deputy Commissioner for Policy, Legislation, and International Affairs, said in a press release.
The vaccine is also likely to make up a substantial portion of an emergency stockpile for outbreaks being put together by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for use in outbreaks.
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The Merck vaccine, given in a single dose, generates a quick immune response, with protection occurring within about 10 days. Those two features make it attractive as a tool for battling an outbreak.
Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar, called the new vaccine “a triumph of American global health leadership.”
The Zaire strain of the Ebola virus has caused more than 2,000 deaths in the current outbreak in the eastern DRC, and more than 11,000 deaths during an outbreak in 2014 in West Africa.
Ebola virus is highly contagious and transmitted through direct contact with blood, body fluids and the tissue of infected wild animals or people. It is also transmitted through surfaces and materials that have come into contact with an infected person or animal.
