Vaccine trial targets Ebola’s Bundibugyo strain in Ituri
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Punch
The World Health Organisation vaccinated the first participants in the Tumaini clinical trial, launched in Bunia, Ituri, to assess protection against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. Ervebo and two other candidates will be studied, according to Tedros Ghebreyesus, quoted by Punch.
The World Health Organisation launched the first clinical trial of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus on Friday in Bunia, Ituri province. The first participants were vaccinated as part of the Tumaini trial, which will assess the safety, immune response and efficacy of several candidates, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced.
The first vaccine being tested is Ervebo, approved against the Zaire strain of Ebola. Researchers will determine whether it can also protect against the Bundibugyo strain, responsible for the ongoing outbreak and against which no vaccine has yet been approved. Two other candidates, developed by Moderna and the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, are due to join the study. Ring vaccination will target, among others, contacts of confirmed cases and people at high risk of exposure.
The trial is being led by Congolese health authorities and research institutions, with the support of the WHO and international partners. Its launch does not mean that a vaccine has already proved effective against the Bundibugyo strain. As of 21 October, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had recorded 9,552 cases and 4,602 deaths, according to the organisations supporting the study.
The first vaccinations and the launch of the Tumaini trial had been reported in Bunia on 23 October. On the same day, Ervebo began being tested against the Bundibugyo strain.
