FDA Approves First-Ever Ebola Vaccine

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has for the first time approved a vaccine for the prevention of the deadly Ebola virus disease. The agency announced the approval of Ervebo, a single-dose, injectable vaccine manufactured by American pharmaceutical company Merck. The announcement, made Thursday, comes a month after the European Union and the World Health Organization, the global health arm of the United Nations, both approved the Ebola vaccine. “While the risk of Ebola virus disease in the U.S. remains low, the U.S. government remains deeply committed to fighting devastating Ebola outbreaks in Africa, including the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Anna Abram, FDA deputy commissioner for policy, legislation, and international affairs, said in a statement Thursday. “Today’s approval is an important step in our continuing efforts to fight Ebola in close coordination with our partners across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as our international partners, such as the World Health Organization.” Congolese health officials and the WHO began using Ervebo last year as an experimental vaccine to help mitigate the epidemic. More than 258,000 people have been vaccinated in the outbreak zone so far. A second experimental vaccine, produced by Johnson & Johnson, was recently deployed in the 2-million-person city of Goma, according to Congolese health officials.