Source: CDC
Ebola Vaccine: Information about ERVEBO®
Why an Ebola Vaccine is Important
A safe and effective vaccine is an important tool to protect frontline workers and prevent the introduction and spread of Ebola disease in the United States.
Ebolaviruses are zoonotic pathogens that cause severe hemorrhagic fever in humans, known as Ebola disease. There are four species of Ebolaviruses that are known to cause disease in humans. Of these, Ebola virus (EBOV; species Zaire ebolavirus), the cause of Ebola virus disease (EVD), is the most lethal, with case fatality rates of 70–90% if left untreated. EBOV is responsible for the majority of recorded Ebola disease outbreaks. This includes the two largest Ebola disease outbreaks in history, the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak and the 2018 outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 32,000 people were infected, and more than 13,600 deaths were reported.
Importation of Ebola disease to the United States by an infected traveler from an outbreak area is a recognized risk with the potential for spread to other people. During the 2014–2016 Ebola disease outbreak in West Africa, 11 people were treated for EVD in the U.S., and two of them died. Nine of these cases were imported into the U.S. Two were domestic healthcare workers who were infected while caring for the first travel-associated Ebola disease case diagnosed in the U.S. Both healthcare workers recovered.
The Ebola Virus Vaccine
ERVEBO® (Ebola Zaire Vaccine, Live also known as V920, rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP or rVSV-ZEBOV) is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the prevention of disease caused by Ebola virus (EBOV; species Zaire ebolavirus) in individuals 12 months of age and older as a single dose administration. ERVEBO is a replication-competent, live, attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vaccine manufactured by Merck. It is not possible to become infected with EBOV from the vaccine because the vaccine only contains a gene from the Ebola virus, not the whole virus. Specifically, it contains a gene for the EBOV glycoprotein that replaces the gene for the native VSV glycoprotein. ERVEBO does not provide protection against other species of Ebolavirus or Marburgvirus.
Antibody measurements are often used as a surrogate test to predict when protection by a vaccine can be expected. Clinical trials have shown that the vaccine elicits rapid antibody response in 14 days after a single dose. Clinical efficacy of the vaccine was supported by a randomized cluster (ring) vaccination study during the 2014–2016 outbreak in Guinea. In this study, 3,775 people in close contact with diagnosed EVD cases (contacts) and their close contacts (contacts of contacts) received immediate vaccination. No one who was vaccinated immediately developed EVD 10 or more days after vaccination.
The correlate of protection, or the specific immune response to the ERVEBO vaccine that closely relates to protection against infection with EBOV, is unknown and still being studied. It is also not known whether it is effective when administered concurrently with antiviral medication, immune globulin, and/or blood or plasma transfusion. The duration of protection conferred by an initial dose of ERVEBO is also unknown. A booster dose for people who have been previously vaccinated may extend the duration of protection for ERVEBO. Scientists continue to monitor people who have received the vaccine to learn more.
Please go to CDC to learn more.
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Are we certain the syringe being plunged into her arm carrying its payload is actually live Ebola?
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