WHO broadens the pool of people who can get the Ebola vaccine

The World Health Organization announced Tuesday it is going to substantially ramp up the number of people eligible to be vaccinated against Ebola in a bid to try contain a dangerous outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that seems on the cusp of spinning out of control.

Now, people even further removed from individuals who have contracted the virus — an additional ring of contacts — will be offered Merck’s experimental Ebola vaccine. And others in the region who are deemed to be at some but not immediate risk of being exposed to Ebola will be eligible for another experimental vaccine, made by Janssen, the vaccine division of Johnson & Johnson.

Responders, including the WHO and other organizations, will also set up more pop-up vaccination clinics to allow people who want to be