Africa

First Ervebo Doses Land in Kinshasa as DR Congo Fights Its Deadliest Ebola Outbreak

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba leaning over strap-banded vaccine cargo boxes on a nighttime airport tarmac as an aid worker and officials gather around him, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

The first 16,250 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine landed at Kinshasa's N'djili International Airport late Friday, the opening shipment of a 70,000-dose emergency allocation announced by the World Health Organization and its partners. Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba, receiving the Gavi-financed cargo, put the batch at 16,520 doses and said 50,120 are expected by August 24. The plan reserves 20,000 doses for a Phase 3 trial against the Bundibugyo strain, which has no approved vaccine, and 50,000 for frontline and health workers. Congolese health authorities report 2,516 deaths among 5,290 confirmed cases, and the UN Ebola coordinator warned Friday that the outbreak is growing exponentially.

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