Ebola: WHO clears Oxford, Moderna vaccines for trials

The World Health Organisation has approved two experimental vaccines for clinical trials against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus, as the outbreak in Africa has killed more than 5,300 people, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The newly approved candidates, developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with the Serum Institute of India and US biotechnology company Moderna, are designed specifically to combat the Bundibugyo virus, for which no approved vaccine is currently available.

WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the development on Wednesday, saying the two candidates would be added to an ongoing vaccine trial. Start tomorrow informed Save your place for the morning brief. We’ll start emailing when delivery goes live.

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“Last month, a vaccine trial began using the Ervebo vaccine, which is approved for Ebola virus, but not for Bundibugyo virus” ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tedros told reporters. “Today, WHO expert groups are recommending adding two vaccine candidates to the trial,” he said.

The candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna's mRNA-1469. The Democratic Republic of Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research is leading the clinical trial, with support from the WHO and other partners.

The approval comes amid the growing toll of the Ebola epidemic across Africa, with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reporting more than 5,300 deaths on Monday. The agency said 10,444 cases had been confirmed, with the fatality rate exceeding 50 per cent. The vast majority of the deaths were recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tedros stressed that vaccines alone would not be sufficient to contain the outbreak, urging health authorities to sustain established response measures. “Vaccines are powerful tools, but they are not substitutes for the proven measures that can save lives now: early care, contact tracing, isolation, safe and dignified burials and trusted engagement with communities,” he said.