A candidate vaccine against the Bundibugyo Ebola virus is undergoing a new phase of clinical trials in Uganda, an official at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, as efforts continue to contain an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Phase Ib trials of the ChAdOx1 vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford, began in Uganda on Oct. 6, Wessam Mankoula told a virtual news conference.
Mankoula, lead of the continental incident management support team for the Ebola response, said Phase Ia trials began in Britain in July.
He said another candidate vaccine developed by Moderna recently received ethical approval for Phase Ib trials in Uganda after its Phase Ia trials began in Canada in August.
Congo has recorded 8,728 confirmed Ebola cases, including 4,205 deaths, since the outbreak was declared in May, according to the latest Health Ministry update.
The latest epidemic has affected seven provinces: Haut-Uele, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Bas-Uele, Tshopo and South-Ubangi.
Kenya reported its first imported case this week involving a patient who died after traveling from Congo.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, for which no vaccine or treatment has been approved.
In August, Congo was allocated 70,000 Ervebo vaccines from the global Ebola virus disease vaccine stockpile for use in the current outbreak. The vaccine is approved for use against the Zaire Ebola virus.
More than 7,700 healthcare and other frontline workers have so far been vaccinated, Mankoula said.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced in August a $16.5 million partnership with African biopharmaceutical company Minapharm Group to develop their Bundibugyo vaccine candidate.