With Ebola once again exacting a deadly toll across Africa, the World Health Organization has cleared the way for clinical trials of two new vaccines aimed at the strain driving the latest crisis.
The decision comes as health workers battle to contain an outbreak that has killed more than 5,300 people. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a trial began last month using the Ervebo vaccine, which is licensed for Ebola virus but not for the Bundibugyo virus that is ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Today, WHO expert groups are recommending adding two vaccine candidates to the trial,” he said.
He identified the new candidates as ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna’s mRNA-1469. Both were designed specifically to target the Bundibugyo virus, he explained.
According to Dr Ghebreyesus, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research is leading the trial, with support from partners including the WHO.
He stressed that vaccination must complement — not replace — the public-health measures that have repeatedly proven to curb transmission. “Vaccines are powerful tools, but they are not substitutes for the proven measures that can save lives now: early care, contact tracing, isolation, safe and dignified burials and trusted engagement with communities,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported that Africa’s ongoing Ebola epidemic has killed more than 5,300 people, with the vast majority of deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The agency said 10,444 cases have been confirmed, putting the fatality rate at more than 50%.
