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WHO Ready to Deploy Anti-Ebola Vaccine to Affected DRC Areas

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The World Health Organization (WHO) is ready to deploy an anti-Ebola vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) villages of Mangina and Beni, where a new outbreak has been registered, Peter Salama, the deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response for the WHO said Friday.
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"This time around we have the vaccine already in Kinshasa so it is literally hours away from [being] deployed if we need it to be deployed in and around Mangina and Beni so because of the particular logistic constraints, you recall the vaccine has to be kept between —60 and —80 degrees, we prefer not to deploy it to the deep field until we really know we are going to be using it in the upcoming days," Salama said at a press briefing.

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Salama added that there were several confirmed cases of the Ebola Virus Disease in Ituri and Beni, where a WHO team has been deployed on Thursday.

The Congolese authorities said Wednesday that a cluster of four confirmed Ebola cases had been located in the eastern North Kivu province. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the organization was moving staff and supplies to the affected area.

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