The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, has explained why vaccines are not available for the current Ebola outbreak spreading across Africa.
The Director General of the Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya,
speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ on
Thursday, said 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.
He said unlike the Democratic Republic of Congo’s strain
which caused the 2014-2016 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.
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