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Guinea: the race for Ebola vaccination launched

Guinea is not in a long distance race, but in a race against time. More than a week after the resurgence of the disease in this West African country, the vaccination campaign against Ebola hemorrhagic fever was launched Tuesday after the arrival Monday evening in Conakry of more than 11,000 doses of vaccine provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), which plans to ship 8,500 additional doses from the United States.

In the field, immunization began in Gouécké – also spelled Gouéké specifies AFP, a locality in forest Guinea (south) where the first cases linked to this resurgence of Ebola were detected on February 13, five years after a deadly epidemic in West Africa. Guinean authorities, whose figures have fluctuated, have so far generally cited five deaths since the resurgence of the disease.

In its last bulletin Tuesday evening, the health agency (ANSS) published a table counting six “community” deaths and two “hospital” deaths, including that of a “suspected case” who died on Monday in Nzérékoré, which would increase the number of dead at eight. But in the same document, the ANSS reports “six deaths, including five probable cases and one case confirmed as of February 22,” making it difficult to establish a precise assessment.

In Gouécké, half a dozen people, relatives of the nurse first affected and who died at the end of January, received a dose of the vaccine in a small freshly pitched tent on the outskirts of the city’s decrepit health center, a report said. AFP journalist.

Six weeks to eradicate the disease

“I think that in six weeks, we can be done with this disease,” the Minister of Health, General Rémy Lamah, told AFP on site. “Vaccines can help us stop the spread of the disease. They are intended primarily for the circle of contacts of the cases that we know, and also for a second circle possibly, to ensure that we interrupt the chain of transmission ”, said the WHO representative in Guinea, Georges Ki-Zerbo, who also made the trip. A small ceremony brought together several dozen people in front of the health center, including young people, women and the prefect and the sub-prefect, who received the vaccine “to set an example”. An imam and a pastor took the floor to encourage people to get vaccinated.

“Remove reluctance”

Originally from the region, General Lamah admitted having had to parley a whole day with the local chiefs to overcome their reservations. And during the ceremony, he thundered against the “bad people” who refuse the vaccination.

Guinean health authorities, such as the WHO or specialized NGOs, know that without the support of the populations, it will be very difficult to fight effectively against this disease which causes sudden fever, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea, and whose average case fatality rate is 50% according to the WHO. The worst Ebola epidemic since the identification of the disease in 1976 in the current Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where it continues to be rife regularly, including at this time, already began in Forest Guinea. , and where part of the population resists health measures.

The campaign continued Wednesday at the regional hospital of Nzérékoré, where director, doctors, nurses and contact cases received their injection, as well as some paracetamol tablets against possible side effects, noted an AFP journalist. “We first vaccinate contact cases, since the pathology was discovered in this hospital, and then all the staff, since they are on the front line as part of the response”, explains Dr Kaba Keïta, rectangular glasses with thin frames, multicolored shirt and mask under the nose.

The vaccine “does not cure, but it protects us. Especially since we are with everyone all the time, so it makes us feel safe to be vaccinated, ”says Chavanel Kolivogui, a lab assistant in a white coat.

The head of the Ebola response commission, Moussa Konaté, said he noticed upon his arrival in Forest Guinea that health kits and food support were being distributed. “I understood that people were very well informed about preventive measures. The population is largely prepared, ”he told the local press.


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