The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has attributed the absence of an approved vaccine for the current Ebola outbreak to what its Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya, described as a lack of sufficient international urgency towards diseases affecting Africa.
Kaseya made the remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday, arguing that the global response could be different if the outbreak were occurring in Western countries.
“If this outbreak was in Western countries, vaccines would already be available,” he said.
The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola strain for which no approved vaccine or specific treatment is currently available.
Kaseya explained that the situation differs from outbreaks caused by the Zaire strain of Ebola, which has an approved vaccine known as Ervebo. The Zaire strain was responsible for the devastating West African Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016.
He said the Africa CDC had begun efforts to address the vaccine gap by initiating clinical trials for potential vaccines, including a candidate developed in Egypt to protect against the Bundibugyo strain.
According to Kaseya, the current outbreak has spread across three African regions, making it the most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak in history.
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He also cited the scale of the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), where the outbreak has reportedly resulted in more than 9,500 infections and approximately 4,600 deaths.
Nigeria confirmed its first case of the current outbreak on Tuesday after a woman who arrived from Uganda on October 3 tested positive for the virus.
Following the confirmation, health authorities began monitoring 44 contacts linked to the case as part of efforts to track potential transmission and prevent further spread.
