WHO accused of rationing Ebola vaccine in Democratic Republic of Congo

KINSHASA: Aid group Doctors Without Borders on Monday accused the World Health Organisation of rationing the Ebola vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo where more than 2,100 people have died of the deadly virus.

"Up to 2,000 to 2,5000 people could be vaccinated every day, against the current 50 to 1,000 people," MSF director of operations Isabelle Defourny said in the statement."MSF's efforts to expand access to the vaccination in collaboration with the Ministry of Health ... have come up against tight control imposed by WHO on supplies of vaccines," MSF said.

"Merck has just announced that in addition to the 245,000 doses already delivered to the WHO, they were ready to send 190,000 more doses if necessary and that 650,000 more would be made available in the next six to 18 months," it said. Ilunga has since been charged with embezzling funds allotted for the Ebola fight, according to his lawyers who reject the allegations saying accounts prove that public funds were used"exclusively" for the anti-Ebola effort.

The WHO has been pushing for the introduction of a second vaccine produced by a subsidiary of US company Johnson & Johnson, but the health ministry under Ilunga had resisted such a move, citing the risks of introducing a new product in communities where mistrust of Ebola responders is already high. The WHO said last week that as of Sep 17, DRC had registered a total of 3,145 cases of Ebola since the outbreak began over a year ago, including 2,103 deaths.New national head of the anti-Ebola operation Jean-Jacques Muyembe said earlier this month that the second vaccine was under review.

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