WHO announces start of clinical trial of Ebola vaccine in DR Congo | News from the World Health Organization

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the start of the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the context of the epidemic which began in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post on Friday that trial participants were vaccinated with the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, the capital of DRC’s northeastern Ituri province, which is the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak.

Ervebo, a vaccine approved for use against the most common Zaire strain of Ebola, will undergo a large-scale human trial to see if it provides cross-protection against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola that is causing the outbreak.

“This trial will help us understand whether any of the vaccine candidates designed against the Bundibugyo virus work,” the WHO chief said on X.

“WHO supports this effort led by the DRC to find answers and save lives,” he added.

The DRC declared its 17th and worst Ebola outbreak in May and has since reported more than 9,700 cases, with the death toll surpassing 4,600.

The WHO, in response, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, its second highest alert level.

The current outbreak has now been reported in four countries in East, Central and West Africa, giving it the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.

Vaccines in preparation

The so-called Tumaini trial is a unique trial setting to test the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of multiple vaccines.

The trial will use a ring vaccination approach: immunizing contacts considered to be at high risk of infection.

The trial is expected to incorporate two Bundibugyo-specific vaccine candidates, which are currently progressing in early-stage, smaller-scale clinical trials.

One is a ChAdOx1 adenoviral vector vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford; the other, from the American group Moderna, uses mRNA technology.

Both received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and are expected to participate in the trial “shortly,” CEPI said in a statement.

The trial will include pregnant women and children aged 12 and older, generating evidence for populations often excluded from clinical trials.

WHO emergencies director Chikwe Ihekweazu said the trial was set up to generate the rigorous evidence needed to determine whether participating vaccines could protect people at risk.