The Ebola epidemic threat, with continued frequent outbreaks represents a persistent public health risk that can have a devastating impact on communities and entire health systems. Today, J&J’s two-dose Ebola vaccine regimen comprising ZABDENO (Ad26.ZEBOV) and Bavarian Nordic’s MVABEA (MVA-BN-Filo) is indicated for active immunization for prevention of disease caused by the Ebola virus in individuals over one year of age. Building on earlier approval from the European Commission and WHO Prequalification, our regimen received regulatory Marketing Authorizations in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Uganda in 2023, bringing our total to five approvals for African countries. These continued approvals are key to enabling access to our vaccine regimen for people who live under the threat of Ebola.
J&J supports the African-led approach that aims to protect people at the highest risk of acquiring Ebola. We collaborate with local and global organizations to help ensure that at-risk communities and health systems are prepared when Ebola emerges. Our collaborations include:
- INGABO: Our sixth Phase 3 study that evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine regimen in pregnant women in Rwanda was completed in early 2023, enrolling 2,017 women. INGABO expands the body of analysis for this group at high risk of mortality from Ebola.
- Ebola prevention in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): In May 2021, the Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine regimen was granted a temporary use authorization in the DRC to support the planned prophylactic deployment of our vaccine regimen to help prevent future outbreaks. In 2023, we donated more than 20,000 Ebola vaccine regimens to support a vaccination campaign led by the Ministry of Health, Hygiene and Prevention of the DRC, acting through its National Institute for Biomedical Research in rural “zones de santé”: Mbandaka, Wangata and Bolenge. In addition to the doses, J&J also provided support in capacity building to strengthen the services associated with the administration of the regimen.
- VXNAID: Our Vaccination Monitoring Platform, VXNAID was donated by J&J to the world and is recognized as a Digital Global Good by Digital Square for advancing progress toward the UN SDGs. In 2023, we achieved our goal to enable global/open access to VXNAID, and adoption of the platform by at least two countries by 2025. The platform was implemented in 2023 by the Ministry of Health in the DRC as part of the Mbandaka Ebola Vaccination Campaign and was also implemented (or used) in the WHO Solidarity Trial Vaccines for COVID-19 vaccines in 2021 – 2023.
VXNAID integrates innovative technologies to improve vaccination campaigns and has helped improve patient tracing, data management and two-way communication to implement impactful vaccination campaigns in low-resource settings for multiple vaccine regimens. VXNAID is an open-source code, enabling global/open access to the platform for any vaccination program.
