‘Hope’ has begun: the first Ebola vaccine trial for the Bundibugyo strain is under way in DR Congo

Its name is Tumaini — Swahili for “hope”. In Bunia, in DR Congo's Ituri province, the first participants have been vaccinated in the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine during the current outbreak, the World Health Organization has announced. The DRC-led trial will test whether Ervebo, a vaccine approved against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, also protects against the Bundibugyo strain behind this outbreak, for which no vaccine has yet been approved. Two further vaccines designed specifically for Bundibugyo — one from the University of Oxford and one from Moderna, both funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) — are expected to join the trial shortly. The study uses ring vaccination, immunising the contacts of cases who are at highest risk, and it deliberately includes pregnant women and children aged 12 and older, groups often left out of vaccine research.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program