By Grace Kuria
A supply of over 11,360 Ebola vaccines sent by the World Health Organization (WHO) arrived in Conakry airport, Guinea, Monday night.
The arrival of the desperately needed vaccines means Guinea can finally start a vaccination drive to stamp out a resurgence of the deadly virus.
A further 8,700 vaccine doses were set to arrive from the United States on Wednesday.
The outbreak, declared last weekend, is the first in the region since a 2013-16 epidemic left more than 11,300 people dead, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
A vaccination team is already being deployed to N’Zerekore, the capital of Guinea’s southeastern forest region where five people have recently died of Ebola, and is ready to rollout vaccinations as soon as the vaccines are received.
On Monday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) reported that two African countries, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reported 14 Ebola virus cases and nine deaths so far.
As well as Guinea, the disease has also recently reemerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Story compiled with assistance from wire reports
