In recent years, the world, specifically the continent of Africa, has been plagued by the Ebola virus. Just last year, the Democratic Republic of Congo declared its tenth Ebola outbreak, with 3,301 confirmed cases of infection in which 2,198 deaths are reported. This outbreak is considered to be the second largest after the Western Africa Ebola virus epidemic of 2014 to 2016.
As a precautionary measure, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization or GAVI announced on Thursday that it would invest $178 million to create a stockpile of 500,000 Ebola virus vaccines.
WHAT IS EBOLA VIRUS AND WHAT DOES IT DO EXACTLY?
Ebola Virus Disease, or Ebola, for short, is a highly fatal disease most common in the continent of Africa. It commonly affects humans and other primates such as monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees. It was first discovered in 1976 near the Ebola river (hence the name) in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Scientists are not yet entirely sure of where the Ebola virus comes from; however, the possible explanation is that it was zoonotic by nature, meaning an animal-borne virus causes the Ebola virus epidemic. The Ebola virus can be spread to people through contact with the blood, body fluids, and tissues of an infected animal. An infected person can transmit the virus to other people through direct contact with body fluids, or when the virus gets through wounds, mucous membranes, and sexual contact.
In an article written on Sciencemag, The primary action of the Ebola virus was to hijack the infected person's immune system triggering a system-wide inflammation and fever. The Ebola virus can also cause hemorrhaging as it travels to different parts of the body via the bloodstream, where macrophages eat it up but end up getting infected. When these macrophages get infected by the Ebola virus, they produce proteins that trigger coagulation, which, in turn, forms small clots in the blood vessels reducing the supply of blood to the organs.
WHAT DOES GAVI PLAN TO DO TO ERADICATE EBOLA?
Despite successful efforts from Cuban doctors in stopping the Ebola virus outbreak in Sierra Leone and West Africa in general, there are still some places with poor health services in Africa which heightens the threat of Ebola virus epidemic (READ: Why Healthcare? 10 Reasons to Pursue a Career in the Health Industry). This pushed GAVI to give funding to create a vaccine stockpile.
GAVI is a public-private partnership between organizations like the World Health Organization, UNICEF, IMF-World Bank, and many others and spearheaded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The alliance announced the funding after a board meeting and said that the investment will be provided between this year and 2025.
Health officials have officially vaccinated more than 255,000 people since the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year using the Ebola virus vaccine licensed by Merck. In an article written by the Associated Press, the chair of GAVI's board Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the creation of the stockpile for the Ebola virus vaccine is a historic milestone in humanity's fight against the disease.
GAVI explains that it will develop a coordinating mechanism to decide how and when vaccines will be used, and this coordination mechanism will be established with partner organizations. The Ebola virus vaccine stockpile is available for all countries. However, only third world countries will be able to get the vaccines for free along with logistical support for vaccination campaigns.
