Africa Races For Ebola Vaccine As Outbreak Outpaces Response
.jpg)
June 3, 2026
By John Musenze
Researchers racing to develop a vaccine to fight the growing Ebola outbreak centred in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say doses could be ready for human testing within “two to three months”, while the more promising candidate could take up to nine months.
International aid agencies have warned that response efforts are failing to keep pace with the spread of the outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global body dedicated to vaccine development, on Monday (1 June) pledged US$62 million to fast-track three investigational vaccine candidates for trials to fight the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments.
“With Bundibugyo virus spreading rapidly and no licensed vaccines, every day counts in the race against this deadly disease,” said CEPI chief executive Richard Hatchett.
“CEPI’s urgent funding and support for these three promising candidates aims to advance safe, effective vaccines to help control this epidemic.”
The three candidates are being developed by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), US biotech firm Moderna, and the University of Oxford, with the Oxford vaccine to be manufactured at the Serum Institute of India.
Teresa Lambe, head of vaccine immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group, says scientists are attempting to fast-track production using lessons learned during COVID-19.
“Animal studies for the Oxford vaccine candidate are already under way and will be progressing with partners around the world,” said Lambe.
“We are hoping to have clinical-grade vaccine doses ready within two to three months.”
WHO’s Technical Advisory Group has identified IAVI’s single-dose rVSV candidate, developed with the University of Texas Medical Branch with US$3.2 million from CEPI, as the most promising in the pipeline. However, the WHO says it will be seven to nine months before the candidate is ready for human testing.
“We are acting with urgency to advance this candidate quickly and responsibly,” said IAVI CEO Mark Feinberg.
“While significant work remains, including definition of accelerated pathways for clinical evaluation and regulatory review, we believe it is important to expedite development of this vaccine candidate to explore its potential to help address a pathogen for which no countermeasures currently exist and that is causing a tragically increasing number of deaths, serious illness, and grave disruption across a wide region.”
As of May 29, the outbreak had caused 223 suspected deaths in DRC and one in Uganda. On Tuesday (2 June) Uganda confirmed six new cases, bringing the total confirmed in the country to 15.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has committed US$50 million to the Ebola outbreak through its First Response Fund, including up to US$40 million to accelerate access.
“While we are some way off having a safe and effective vaccine against Bundibugyo virus, we need to act now to ensure that, once one or more vaccine candidates are ready, manufacturers are in a position to start producing doses at scale,” said Gavi chief executive Sania Nishtar.
Jean Kaseya, head of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) promised that Africa would have a vaccine and treatment “by the end of this year”.
The African Union health agency has forged a continent-wide response plan to strengthen outbreak control in at least 11 high-risk countries—a plan it says will require US$319 million in the next six months.
Kaseya warned that South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Burundi, Angola, Central African Republic, and Zambia are at high risk of Ebola spread—in addition to DRC and Uganda—due to cross-border population movement.
Speaking at a press briefing last week (28 May), Kaseya said the continent can no longer afford to respond to recurring outbreaks without medical countermeasures.
“This is the third time we are seeing Bundibugyo in Africa. If this was happening in Western countries, they would have a vaccine by now.”
The rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola has caused just three outbreaks in nearly two decades, the first in Uganda in 2007, with a second in DRC in 2012. It has no approved vaccine and no licensed treatment, and existing medical tools developed for the more common Zaire strain are largely unsuitable for the current outbreak.
Kaseya also disclosed that he had received a direct message from Russia’s Minister of Health, informing him that the Gamaleya National Research Centre had developed an Ebola vaccine.
“My team is working with the Russian team and with all other partners to understand,” Kaseya told the briefing.
Africa CDC officials confirmed the Russian vaccine was originally developed following the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak and targets the Zaire strain. Technical teams were this week assessing whether the platform could offer protection or be adapted for the Bundibugyo species.
WHO experts have also recommended several experimental therapeutics for evaluation in clinical trials among confirmed Ebola patients. These include the monoclonal antibodies MBP134 and Maftivimab, the antiviral remdesivir, and combination therapies involving both antibody treatment and antivirals.
WHO is also studying the use of obeldesivir tablets as post-exposure protection for confirmed contacts. These are oral antivirals administered before symptoms develop in an attempt to prevent infection.
This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
No comments:
Post a Comment