Guinea Launches Ebola Vaccination Campaign

Conakry, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Feb, 2021 ) :Guinea launched an Ebola vaccination campaign on Tuesday, medical workers and the World Health Organization said, after a fresh outbreak of the deadly disease struck the country this month.

The West African state reported new Ebola cases on February 13 -- the first in West Africa since a 2013-2016 epidemic that left more than 11,300 dead in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The latest outbreak emerged near the town of Gouecke, in the forested Nzerekore region in Guinea's southeast, and has already killed five people.

Ebola causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding. It is transmitted through close contact with bodily fluids, and people who live with or care for patients are most at risk.

Health workers began to administer Ebola vaccines in Gouecke on Tuesday, after over 11,000 doses arrived in Guinea the previous day.

Guinea's Health Minister Remy Lamah, as well as Georges Ki-Zerbo, the WHO representative in the country, travelled to the town for the occasion.

The WHO plans to send about another 8,000 doses to the country, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Health Minister Lamah told AFP: "I think that in six weeks, we can be done with this disease".

During a ceremony outside a health centre in Gouecke, local government officials received jabs before a crowd of several dozen people. An imam and preacher also encourage people to get immunised.

Lamah, who hails from the region, said that he had spent the day trying to persuade local leaders to overcome their resistance to the vaccine.