KAMPALA, June 12 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday announced that it is shipping 3,500 doses of Ebola vaccines for ring vaccination in Uganda after the country recorded its first case of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.
Annet Kisakye, WHO Immunization Focal person, told Xinhua by telephone that a total of 400 experimental Ebola vaccines have arrived in the east African country for ring vaccination of contacts and health workers at risk.
"The 3,100 or so vaccines are going to be airlifted into the country within the next 48 to 72 hours," said Kisakye.
"We have teams on the ground moving to identify and trace the contacts to create a ring for vaccination," she said.
Uganda's ministry of health and WHO will on Friday launch the exercise in the western district of Kasese where the outbreak has been confirmed.
Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda's minister of health, on Wednesday said the first case of Ebola in the country, a five-year old boy, died at Bwera Hospital and two other cases have been confirmed.
The Ebola outbreak in Uganda was confirmed on Tuesday. It once broke out in Uganda in 2012, leaving about 20 people dead.
