First person gets new experimental vaccine for Ebola

What the report says

BBC News reports that Ed Hunt, a 37-year-old man from the UK, has become the first person worldwide to receive a new experimental vaccine targeting Ebola. The injection was administered in Oxford as part of an early-stage trial. Hunt volunteered after following reports about a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, saying he had previously wanted to join a Covid vaccine trial but could not because of work commitments.

According to the BBC, the vaccine was created by University of Oxford scientists in eight weeks and uses the same platform as the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine. Professor Teresa Lambe, who led the Oxford Ebola vaccine team, said the rapid development drew on decades of prior research. The phase one study is enrolling 50 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 and is intended to assess safety and whether the shot generates an immune response that might protect against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola.

The BBC reports that four vaccines are being developed against Bundibugyo, the species linked to the current outbreak, and that the Oxford candidate is the first to move into human trials. A licensed vaccine already exists for the Zaire species of Ebola, but it does not protect against Bundibugyo. Oxford researchers say another small trial is expected in Uganda, followed by a larger efficacy study in DR Congo if earlier results support further testing.

The report says the Serum Institute of India has produced 600,000 doses of the Oxford vaccine in advance, for possible use if trials succeed. BBC figures cited more than 2,500 confirmed Ebola cases in DR Congo, including just over 1,000 deaths.