Uganda to vaccinate health workers against Ebola: Minister of Health

KAMPALA (AFP) – Uganda will begin vaccinating front-line health workers against Ebola next week, as the deadly virus spreads from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the minister said Friday. the health.

An Ebola outbreak in the DRC has already claimed the lives of 180 people, and with a high number of people crossing the border, "the public health risk of cross-border transmission of Ebola in Uganda has been deemed very high. high, "said Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng.

"Compassionate use of the Ebola vaccine for health professionals and front-line workers" will start tomorrow, she told reporters.

This will be the first time the vaccine is used in a country that is not in the midst of an Ebola outbreak.

The DRC Ministry of Health announced Thursday that it has identified 285 possible cases of Ebola in the troubled North-East Kivu region, which is home to many armed groups.

This is the 10th outbreak of Ebola in the country, then called Zaire, where the disease was first detected in 1976.

More than 25,000 people have received an experimental vaccine in the DRC since August.

The representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Uganda, Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, said the vaccine – the rVSV-ZEBOV – was nearly 100% effective and had little risk.

"Until now, no major risk has been recorded, just a normal reaction to a vaccine," he said.

The drug targets Zaire virus species, the most "vicious Ebola types," said Woldemariam.

The fear that an undiagnosed Ebola patient may arrive at a health center in search of treatment has led to the decision to vaccinate the caregivers at highest risk of contracting highly infectious haemorrhagic fever in 40 centers near the border.

The authorities insist that vaccination will be completely voluntary and that front-line workers – who may include cleaning agents from hospitals and other auxiliary personnel – will have to give their "informed consent".