On Thursday, December 5, Sierra Leone began vaccinating thousands of health workers and other high-risk individuals against Ebola, marking a significant step in preventing future outbreaks. This initiative comes 10 years after the country, alongside Guinea and Liberia, was severely affected by the largest Ebola outbreak in history.
Sierra Leone is the first of the three nations to roll out a nationwide vaccination campaign, targeting approximately 20,000 individuals most at risk. These include first responders, traditional healers, religious leaders, and security forces, all of whom will receive a single dose of the Ervebo vaccine. The campaign started gradually in health centers and police stations across the capital, Freetown.
Josephine Abdulai, a 40-year-old health worker who lost five family members to Ebola in 2014, expressed her relief after receiving the vaccine at a maternity hospital in eastern Freetown. “The Ebola vaccine is a very good thing for us health workers,” she said. “If this vaccine had been available then, their lives could have been saved.”
Between 2014 and 2016, the Ebola outbreak claimed the lives of an estimated 4,000 people in Sierra Leone, including nearly 7% of the country’s health workers.
Led by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF, the vaccination campaign will extend to all 16 districts in Sierra Leone.
Although Sierra Leone has not recorded an Ebola case since 2016, a 2021 outbreak in neighboring Guinea prompted localized vaccination efforts in border areas. Ebola, a rare but often fatal disease, is transmitted through contact with infected animals or individuals, including the sick or deceased.
The launch of this vaccination initiative signals a proactive effort to protect the nation’s most vulnerable and bolster its preparedness against future outbreaks.