Two experimental Ebola vaccines are set to join clinical trials as health workers race to contain an outbreak in Africa that has claimed more than 5,300 lives.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a trial launched last month was already testing Ervebo, a vaccine approved against Ebola virus but not against the Bundibugyo virus driving the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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“Today, WHO expert groups are recommending adding two vaccine candidates to the trial,” he said.
The candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna’s mRNA-1469. Both were designed specifically to target the Bundibugyo virus, Tedros said.
Still, vaccines alone cannot halt the spread, he cautioned. “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 added.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that the continuing Ebola epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people across the continent, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for the overwhelming majority of deaths.
Health authorities have recorded 10,444 confirmed cases, while the fatality rate has climbed above 50%, the agency said.
