The World Health Organization (WHO) and the government of Uganda are planning to test three candidate Ebola vaccines in a clinical trial to control the ongoing outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus. The program was made as existing approved Ebola vaccines are ineffective against the virus responsible for the outbreak.
Healthcare workers in Uganda will be the first to receive the candidate Ebola vaccines, which could expand available tools against the outbreak.
Red Cross workers don PPE prior to burying a 3-year-old boy suspected of dying from Ebola on October 13, 2022, in Mubende, Uganda. The Ugandan health authorities have set up emergency response teams, isolation centers, and treatment tents around the central Mubende district after 19 recorded deaths and 54 confirmed cases from an Ebola virus outbreak.
New Ebola Outbreak in Uganda
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), together with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is monitoring the current outbreak in Uganda caused by the Sudan ebolavirus.
Per CDPH, Uganda declared an Ebola virus outbreak (EVD) on September 20, 2022. Symptoms of the current Ebola infection in a patient are the same as the other strains, which include fever, severe headache, muscle pain, weakness, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and unexplained bleeding.
The outbreak has resulted in 163 confirmed and probable cases, and 77 confirmed and probable deaths. But the deadly outbreak also shows signs of slowing in six of the nine districts where the infection was reported.
Health Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Ainebyoona told Reuters that Mubende, one of the districts with reported Ebola cases, said that they had gone at least 16 days without a new case and that the capital Kampala has not recorded new infections for at least two weeks.
There is no proven vaccine yet for Sudan ebolavirus, unlike the common Zaire strain. The current outbreak spread during outbreaks in their neighboring nation Democratic Republic of Congo.
Clinical Trial for Candidate Ebola Vaccines
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the first doses of vaccine would be arriving in Uganda next week, although they have not yet confirmed a start date for the clinical trial.
According to Scientific American, the three candidates include one bivalent vaccine that targets two viral strains and two monovalent or a vaccine targeting a single strain.
The bivalent vaccine was developed by scientists at the University of Oxford and the Jenner Institute in England. In contrast, one of the monovalent vaccines was developed by Sabin Vaccine Institute, and the other is from the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.
WHO officials said a clinical trial for candidate vaccines with sufficient data would go ahead if more cases are reported. They asked the COVID-19 Vaccine Prioritization Working Group to rapidly evaluate candidate Ebola vaccines to be included in a clinical trial in the country.
If any of the three candidate Ebola vaccines are effective, regulatory authorities will begin the process of authorizing vaccines that will pave the way for commercialization. Also, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) of WHO is expected to provide public policy recommendations to Uganda and other countries for the use of the vaccines.
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