A dose of Ebola vaccines

Some Gbudue State health workers who were recently vaccinated against Ebola have been hospitalized after experiencing serious side effects.

“They told us that there was a side effect and it will not last longer. [But ]up-to now, it’s still on-going and I don’t know what the problem is,” one of them wondered.

Last month, the national Ministry of Health and health partners launched the vaccination exercise targeting health workers and other front-line respondents against Ebola as part of preparedness measures to fight the spread of the disease.

This came after South Sudan received 2160 doses of the Ebola vaccine from Merck – the vaccine developer.

The vaccine offers protection against the Zaire strain of the virus, which is spreading in DR Congo right now.

However, some of the health workers say the vaccine immediately caused vomit, severe headache, and fever.

“I started feeling headache, I was feeling like to vomit and then my waste was paining too much. I was also feeling cold too much and I could cover myself with 2-3 blankets,” another health worker said.

For his part, Gbudue State acting Minister of Health Gibson Bullen advised them that:

“They should not worry much because the vaccinators or the WHO which is administering the vaccines are on the ground.”

As of 15 January 2019, there have been a total of 663 Ebola Virus Disease cases of which 614 are confirmed and 49 probable, including 407 deaths in North Kivu and Ituri provinces in DR Congo.