Ugandan researchers begin Ebola vaccine trial in Masaka

Researchers in Uganda have vaccinated the first participants in an Ebola vaccine trial in Masaka, according to Cherwell. The outlet says the vaccinations took place on 6th October.

Headlines from Modern Ghana, France 24, The Oxford Student and Africanews also report that an Ebola vaccine trial has launched or begun in Uganda; The Oxford Student describes the vaccine as Oxford-developed and the study as a Phase I clinical trial. Cherwell reports that the Oxford Vaccine Group is working with the Ugandan research team.

The group’s stated contribution includes support for the study’s scientific design and coordination, safety oversight, and assessment of vaccine safety and immunogenicity. The article does not provide a participant count or details of the vaccine candidate beyond the information in the headlines.

Dr Nicole Lurie, CEPI’s Executive Director for Emergency Preparedness and Response, told Cherwell that the Bundibugyo outbreak remains the fastest-growing and second-largest Ebola outbreak recorded. Lurie also said there is currently no licensed vaccine or treatment for that outbreak.

Those assessments are attributed to Lurie; Cherwell does not provide separate figures for the outbreak or further details about available care. Lurie said CEPI needs US$128M to keep its emergency research and development work on Bundibugyo moving. She warned that insufficient additional funding could prevent development of the vaccine candidates.

Her remarks link the funding request to continued research and development, but the article does not identify a funding decision or a deadline. Cherwell also cites the Oxford-AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 COVID-19 vaccine as a precedent for Oxford vaccine development.

It says the vaccine received emergency-use approval in the UK in December 2020, was estimated to have saved six million lives during 2021, and had more than 3 billion doses used worldwide. These figures concern the COVID-19 vaccine, not the Ebola trial.

The immediate documented next steps are the trial’s ongoing work with the Ugandan research team and the research and development activity Lurie says CEPI’s funding would support. The account gives no further trial timetable, recruitment target or decision date.

The headlines identify the trial as underway in Uganda, while Cherwell supplies the account of the first vaccinations and the stated research, safety and funding details.