New Ebola vaccine trials begin in Uganda amid deadly DRC outbreak

What the report says

Uganda has begun a new stage of clinical testing for a candidate vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, according to reporting from The Independent Uganda citing the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The trials are part of wider efforts to speed up vaccine development while an Ebola outbreak continues in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Africa CDC said the Phase Ib study of ChAdOx1 BDBV, a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, started in Uganda on Oct. 6 after Phase Ia work began in Britain in July. The agency also said Moderna’s candidate vaccine received ethical approval for Phase Ib trials in Uganda on Oct. 7, following Phase Ia testing in Canada earlier in August.

The outbreak in the DRC is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there is no specifically approved vaccine or treatment, the report said. The DRC has received 70,000 doses of Ervebo, which is authorized against the Zaire Ebola virus but not proven for Bundibugyo. Health workers and other frontline staff have also been vaccinated through emergency and research protocols, though one program has been paused because of supply shortages.

The latest figures cited by the DRC health authorities showed 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 deaths as of Oct. 6, with 2,269 recoveries. The expansion of vaccine testing matters because it could help strengthen tools against a strain that has caused severe losses and remains difficult to control.