In response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democtratic Republic of Congo, HHS will fund the development of Merck's investigational Ebola vaccine.
The department will give Merck $23 million to produce V920 doses over the next year and will work with the drugmaker to help secure FDA approval for the vaccine.
The agency's response comes as the Ebola virus continues to spread in Congo. It has killed at least 1,900 people in the last year.
As of Aug. 16, more than 192,000 people have been vaccinated with the experimental vaccine.