The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a cause for serious concern. It has already taken the lives of 25 people, and the disease has spread to the provincial capital Mbandaka, a city of more than one million.

But this time we have a new weapon to add to our arsenal in the fight against Ebola – a vaccine. Already, 300,000 investigational doses are available despite the fact that this vaccine, though proved to be safe and effective in clinical trials, is yet to be licensed by regulatory authorities.

These vaccines will not end the outbreak by themselves – they are part of a far larger national and international effort which will be crucial to contain the disease. However, the fact that they are already being used as an integral part of the response marks a historic first.

One of the central issues with vaccine development and supply is that it is not driven by the risk a disease poses, but rather by economics. The size of the potential market matters more than the scale of devastation a disease can cause.

Ebola is no exception. This disease is among the deadliest in existence, with mortality rates that can be as high as 90%, and no licensed treatment available. In fact, I gave a TED talk on this challenge in 2015 and held up two Ebola experimental vaccines on the TED stage, one of which is the vaccine currently in use.

Yet in the four decades between Ebola’s discovery and the 2014 West Africa outbreak, there were just a few thousand cases in some of the poorest countries in the world. There was no incentive to take a vaccine through the lengthy, costly licensing process needed for public use. Though researchers developed several promising Ebola vaccines, none left the laboratory.

The West Africa outbreak was as a wake-up call. As the disease rapidly spread from Guinea to Liberia and Sierra Leone, raising alarm in capitals across the world, the need for an effective, approved vaccine had never been more pronounced.

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