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The shots are expected to arrive on Sunday and the vaccination campaign could start on Monday.
More than 11,000 Ebola vaccines are expected to arrive in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, on Sunday after the country declared an Ebola outbreak last week.
World Health Organization regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti told reporters on Thursday that in addition to the 11,000 shots expected from Geneva, another 8,600 would be dispatched from the United States.
Speaking to reporters at the same press briefing, Mohamed Lamine Yansane, senior advisor to Guinea’s health minister, said vaccines would be immediately distributed to start the vaccination campaign on Monday.
“We are strongly supported by the experience gained during the first wave of the Ebola epidemic,” Yansane said, referring to the epidemic which lasted from 2013 to 2016.
Guinea declared an Ebola outbreak on February 14 after seven people fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending a funeral in Goueke, near the Liberian border. So far, five people have died from the disease.
Authorities and international organizations are acting quickly to help Guinea prevent further spread of the disease, with more than 100 experts expected in the field by the end of the month, according to Moeti.
The United Nations health expert also stressed that it was “unlikely” that Guinea would experience a situation similar to that of the previous Ebola epidemic, thanks to the country’s response capacity built in the past and to a rapid coordination with other African countries.
The current outbreak is the first since a 2013-2016 epidemic – which began in Guinea – killed 11,300 in West Africa. Most cases have occurred in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
With the first case detected being in a border area, Moeti said neighboring countries were on heightened alert for possible cross-border infections.
Liberian President George Weah on Sunday ordered health officials to step up surveillance and prevention activities in the country following the outbreak in his neighboring country.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone has sent workers to monitor border entry points in coordination with Guinean authorities, a health ministry spokesperson said.
The epidemic in Guinea was declared a week after the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reported a resurgence of the virus in Butembo, the epicenter of a previous outbreak declared last June. The country launched an Ebola vaccination campaign on Monday.
The 2013-2016 spread accelerated the development of the Ebola vaccine, with a global emergency stockpile of 500,000 doses planned to respond quickly to future outbreaks, Gavi told The Vaccine Alliance in January.
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