It will arrive in the city of Goma, in North Kivu province on October 18 and be used from the beginning of next month
Doctors will use a second Ebola vaccine from November in three provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight the deadly virus, medical officials said on Sunday.
“It’s time to use the new Ad26-ZEBOV-GP vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson’s Belgian subsidiary,” said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, who leads the national anti-Ebola operation in the DRC.
It will arrive in the city of Goma, in North Kivu province on October 18 and be used from the beginning of next month, he added.
DRC’s latest Ebola epidemic, which began in August 2018, has killed 2,144 people, making it the second deadliest outbreak of the virus, after the West Africa pandemic of 2014 to 2016.
Muyembe said the communes of Majingo and Kahembe had been selected to receive the vaccine as they were considered the epicentres of the epidemic.
“We will extend this vaccination to our small traders who often go to Rwanda to protect our neighbours,” he added.
“If it works well, we will expand vaccination in South Kivu and Ituri.”
DR Congo’s eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu sit on the borders with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, according to the AFC.