The Sabin Vaccine Institute has delivered 1,000 more doses of its investigational Marburg virus vaccine to Rwanda, following an initial shipment of 700 doses. In an update yesterday, Rwanda’s health ministry said 669 vaccine doses have already been administered. 

The immunization campaign is part of a phase 2 open-label trial sponsored by the Rwanda Biomedical Centre. The single-dose vaccine is being given according to a clinical trial that been reviewed by Rwandan ethics and regulatory authorities, Sabin said in a statement.

Amy Finan, Sabin’s chief executive officer, said every moment counts in an outbreak and that seamless collaboration with the Rwandan government was key to accelerating the process. “On our side, we moved quickly by leveraging our experience with other outbreaks and having vaccine doses and supporting documents ready, thanks to a strong partnership with ReiThera,” she said. ReiThera is a vaccine manufacturer based in Italy. 

Recoveries outpace cases and deaths

In updates over the past 3 days, Rwanda’s health ministry reported one new case and another death, raising the outbreak total to 62 infections, 15 of them fatal. Twenty six people have now recovered from their illnesses.

Rwanda declared the Marburg outbreak, the country’s first, on September 27. Most cases are linked to two hospital clusters in Kigali.