The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved the world’s first Ebola vaccine, which has currently been used to prevent and stop the spread of Ebola.
The approval of the experimental Ebola vaccine, which would save many lives, has been described by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “triumph for public health.”
Merck & Co., the American multinational pharmaceutical company, develops the vaccine, which has already been used under “emergency guidelines” to offer protection against the spread of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already started reviewing the vaccine under a fast-track system, with the decision of approval expected next year.
The WHO said that the first fully licensed Ebola vaccine doses would be available by the mid-next year.
The EMA has already allowed the conditional marketing of the world’s first Ebola vaccine and a full marketing license would be expected within the next few weeks.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “This vaccine has already saved many lives in the current Ebola outbreak, and the decision by European regulators will help it to eventually save many more.”
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in DRC has already killed more than 2,100 people and affected over 3,000 people since August 2018, which is now the second-largest outbreak in history. The first largest Ebola outbreak occurred in West Africa from 2013 to 2016, killing more than 11,300 people. The world is now pretty close to get a fully licensed Ebola vaccine to stop the spread of the disease.
