Beni starts vaccinating its Ebola frontline workers
Health workers, burial teams and laboratory staff in North Kivu's provisional capital are the first to get the Ervebo vaccine, as Congo widens a response that began in Kisangani and Bunia.
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Beni — Congo has taken its Ebola vaccination campaign to Beni, the provisional capital of North Kivu, starting with the people most exposed to the virus: the health workers and response teams who care for the sick, Actualité.cd reports.
The campaign was launched on Friday, 16 October, at a ceremony chaired by Prisca Luanda Kamala, representing the province's military governor, with World Health Organization representatives and health officials present. Vaccination is voluntary.
Who is first in line
- Doctors, nurses and other carers
- Surveillance and case-management teams
- Safe and dignified burial teams, and the people who transport bodies
- Laboratory specialists
Beni is the third city in the campaign, after Kisangani, where it began at the end of August, and Bunia in Ituri, where it started on 19 September.
A tool, not a cure-all
The response coordinator, Dr Steven Ahuka, called the vaccine an extra tool that does not replace vigilance. It has to go hand in hand with early detection, care for patients, infection prevention and community engagement, he said, and he thanked partners including WHO, Africa CDC, UNICEF and the World Food Programme. Beni's mayor, Chief Superintendent Nyofondo Te-Kodale Jacob, praised the commitment of health authorities and partners.
The vaccine, Ervebo, is being used within the BRAVO study, launched in Bunia on 19 September by Médecins Sans Frontières and its research centre Epicentre. Ervebo was licensed for the Zaire strain of Ebola, not the Bundibugyo strain behind this outbreak; early data suggest it may give some protection, and the study is meant to measure that. MSF has said the study alone will not end the epidemic.
North Kivu has recorded 2,055 confirmed cases and 1,231 deaths. Nationally, the count since the outbreak was declared on 15 May stands at 9,144 cases and 4,410 deaths.
Source: Actualité.cd, reporting by Josué Mutanava, 17 October 2026.
