In the latest Ebola outbreak, a total of 61 cases were recorded and 28 lives were claimed in the Congo region. But now the World Health Organization has reported that the spread of this Ebola outbreak has "largely been contained" after the success of Merck's late-stage vaccination campaign for more than a month. WHO further reported that in spite of this progress, "there should be no room for laxity and complacency until the outbreak is controlled." This vaccination is targeted at health professionals and the victims of this Ebola virus, showing 100% efficacy.

The Ebola vaccine named V920 was originally developed by scientists from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s National Microbiology Laboratory. Later, the vaccine was licensed to a subsidiary company of NewLink Genetics. When the Ebola outbreak in 2014 claimed numerous lives, Merck accelerated the vaccine’s development by licensing it from NewLink Genetics.

When the Ebola outbreak in the last year claimed a further 4 lives, the vaccine was not effectively addressing the threat. After that incident, governments, nonprofits and pharma companies joined together to form an independent group named the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.  This group aimed to prepare for effective epidemics in advance. MERS-CoV, the Nipah virus and Lassa virus were their first targets. After the successful vaccination campaign, Merck declared that it would seek approval for late-stage Ebola vaccine V920 this year.