WHO 'cautiously optimistic' about DRC Ebola after vaccinations
Tuesday May 29 2018
A nurse working with the World Health Organisation shows a bottle containing Ebola vaccine at the town all of Mbandaka, DR Congo on May 21, 2018 during the launch of the Ebola vaccination campaign. AFP PHOTO | JUNIOR KANNAH
The World Health Organisation is cautiously optimistic about the progress of the Ebola response in Democratic Republic of Congo after 90 per cent of people at risk in the city of Mbandaka were vaccinated, a senior WHO official said on Tuesday.
Peter Salama, WHO Deputy Director-General for Emergency Preparedness and Response, said more than 400 potential Ebola contacts had been vaccinated.
Although he could not say for certain the city had been safeguarded, he was cautiously optimistic, and there had been no explosive increase in cases.
He also said he hoped to get government approval within days to use five experimental drugs to treat Ebola patients, in a clinical trial which could lay the groundwork for more rapid treatments in future outbreaks.