Ervebo was the first FDA-approved Ebola vaccine, authorized in 2019.
Ervebo protects against Ebola virus disease caused by Zaire ebolavirus. It uses a live, replication-competent recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus engineered to display an Ebola virus surface glycoprotein. The altered carrier virus trains the immune system to recognize Ebola without containing the complete Ebola virus.
The vaccine was developed through international research involving the Public Health Agency of Canada and later advanced by Merck. Large-scale use during the 2014–2016 West African Ebola epidemic helped provide evidence of protection, while ring vaccination strategies helped contain later outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ervebo does not protect against every Ebola species or every cause of viral hemorrhagic fever. Its approval was a major milestone because Ebola vaccines had been studied for years before one received regulatory authorization.