LONDON, United Kingdom – Scientists at the University of Oxford are urgently developing a new Ebola vaccine that could be ready for human trials within the next two to three months as a deadly outbreak spreads in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Okay News reports that the outbreak, linked to the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has already resulted in more than 750 suspected infections and at least 177 deaths in Congo, according to health officials.
The World Health Organization has now raised the outbreak risk level in Congo from “high” to “very high”, although global risk remains low. The UN health agency also recently declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
Researchers at Oxford said the experimental vaccine is being developed using the same ChAdOx1 technology that helped create the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during the coronavirus pandemic.
The vaccine works by using a modified chimpanzee cold virus to safely deliver genetic material from the Ebola virus into the body, helping the immune system learn how to fight the disease without causing infection.
Scientists say there is still no guarantee the vaccine will work, as animal testing and human clinical trials are still needed. However, researchers are moving quickly in case the outbreak expands further across the region.
Professor Teresa Lambe of the Oxford Vaccine Group said preparations are already underway for large-scale production if trials prove successful. India’s Serum Institute has also been lined up to manufacture the vaccine in large quantities.
The current outbreak has become especially concerning because there is no approved vaccine for the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has only caused two previous outbreaks since it was first identified.
Health experts said Ebola vaccines are usually deployed through “ring vaccination,” where close contacts of infected people and frontline healthcare workers are vaccinated to contain the spread of the virus.
