Ebola in the DRC: 4,381 dead, and Beni healthcare workers vaccinated with a non-approved product

Healthcare workers and frontline staff in Beni, North Kivu, received the Ervebo vaccine on Friday, October 16, 2026, as the Ebola epidemic striking the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 9,000 confirmed cases, reports Africanews. A vaccinated nurse, Stella Nyota, told the agency she feels safer around her patients.

The campaign carries a paradox that health authorities are not hiding: Ervebo is approved for the Zaire strain of the virus, while the current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment. It is therefore being administered under compassionate use, for lack of a better option. Since the two viruses are related, partial protection is considered possible, but not proven.

Nearly one in two confirmed patients does not survive

According to the latest situation report as of October 11, 2026, cited by People's Daily, the DRC had 9,066 confirmed cases and 4,381 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of 48.3%, and 2,389 recoveries. Sixty-five health zones are affected across seven provinces. Ituri accounts for 73.8% of confirmed cases; North Kivu shows the highest fatality rate, at 57.1%.

Declared on May 15, 2026, this epidemic is the deadliest of the seventeen the country has experienced, and the second largest ever recorded globally after the West African outbreak of 2014-2016. According to Africanews, the WHO considers transmission to still be out of control.

"Survival chances are not theories"

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Janabi, emphasizes what supportive care already allows: blood transfusions, oxygen, and antibiotics. "Survival chances are not theories," he told Africanews, stating that 2,400 people have survived since the beginning of the epidemic.

In August 2026, 70,000 doses of Ervebo were approved for the DRC: approximately 50,000 for healthcare workers and 20,000 reserved for research on Bundibugyo. As of October 11, 399 workers had been vaccinated in Haut-Uele. CEPI has announced the imminent launch of Tumaini, a phase 2/3 trial against this strain, subject to ethical and regulatory approvals.

The response is also hindered by insecurity, population displacement, and a strike by health personnel, details Africanews. The Congolese Minister of Health, Roger Kamba, maintains that the epidemic is becoming more localized. On October 7, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that it is slowing down in some places but progressing elsewhere, with many deaths occurring within communities.

There remains the question that this Friday of vaccination poses starkly: it is African healthcare workers, exposed every day, who are offering their arms for a product that no one yet knows will protect them from the strain that is killing them.