Why we should be cautious about the ‘game-changer’ Ebola vaccine
Despite being widely celebrated, the Ebola vaccine might not prove as effective as it is advertised to be.
by Adia Benton
Aljazeera.com
5/30/2018
In early May 2018, when the ninth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo threatened to spread to Mbandaka, a city of 1.2 million people, the global health public relations machine went into overdrive.
Unlike previous outbreaks in the country, or unlike the 2014-16 West African outbreak, international responders quickly announced their support for efforts to contain Ebola. This rapid response by African and Western experts has been heralded as a direct consequence of lessons learned from the West African outbreak, which by 2016 had killed more than 11,000 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
By their own report, efforts to assist Ebola response by multilateral agencies like the UN and the African Union have not only been quick, but “impressive”. The World Bank and the World Health Organization have committed $12m and $2m respectively to help the fight against the outbreak. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, established in 2017, have deployed its emergency response team and committed up to $2m.
Among the highlights of this rapid response is the use of the “investigational” rVSV-ZEBOV Ebola vaccine. Beside two vaccines developed and approved by Russia and China, this one has gone the furthest in its development: it has been tested for safety, for its ability to elicit sufficient immune response to fight off Ebola, and for efficacy.
However, the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, which is currently produced by US-based pharmaceutical giant Merck, is unlicensed by health authorities. It is being administered in the DRC under “compassionate use” protocol, which allows unlicensed, but possibly effective, drugs to be used in the event of an emergency.
The vaccine will be offered through ring vaccination, which means that only close contacts of Ebola patients, contacts of contacts, healthcare workers, and other front-line responders will be vaccinated in the three affected areas of Mbandaka, Bikoro, and Iboko. Experts estimate each “ring” will consist of up to 150 contacts, with an estimated 10,000 who will possibly be vaccinated by the end of June 2018.
Most media coverage about the vaccine’s deployment to the region has been triumphalist, referring to the vaccine as a “game-changer” and “a paradigm shift”. But these reports should be viewed with caution.
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