WHO readies to test Merck’s experimental Ebola vaccine in Congo outbreak
It is looking like Merck’s Ebola vaccine may be about to get field-tested.
The World Health Organization said Friday it is putting everything in place to be able to use the experimental vaccine to help extinguish a worrisome outbreak in a remote area in the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo — though using the vaccine there will require some herculean efforts.
“This is a highly complex, sophisticated operation in one of the most difficult terrains on earth,” Dr. Peter Salama, WHO’s deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response, said during a news conference in Geneva.
The country’s government still must agree to authorize the vaccine — which has
