The World Health Organization has approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines aimed at the Bundibugyo strain, according to Al Jazeera, as health workers try to bring the largest outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's history under control.
WHO expert panels recommended the two trials on Monday. The vaccines are designed specifically to target Bundibugyo, a strain that has killed more than 5,300 people, most of them in the DRC, since May.
The approval comes as public health agencies struggle to contain a virus with a fatality rate of about 50 percent, partly because no vaccine or treatment had been developed for this strain.
Why it matters
The Bundibugyo outbreak has spread faster than any previous one recorded in the DRC. The African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says 10,444 cases of the virus have been confirmed, Al Jazeera reports.
Without a strain-specific vaccine, responders have had limited tools. An earlier trial that began last month used Ervebo, a vaccine approved for the Zaire strain of Ebola. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that vaccine was not designed for Bundibugyo.
The two vaccines now entering trials were built for the Bundibugyo virus directly, Tedros said. Results are expected in early 2027, according to the WHO.
Who is running the trials
The DRC's National Institute for Biomedical Research is leading the trial work, with backing from the WHO and other partners, Tedros said. The vaccine was developed by the University of Oxford together with the Serum Institute of India and Moderna.
Tedros stressed that immunization alone will not end the outbreak. He said vaccines are important tools but do not replace measures that save lives in the immediate term: early care, contact tracing, isolation, safe and dignified burials, and engagement with communities that people trust.
Spread beyond the DRC
Cases have now been reported outside the DRC. Kenya has recorded nine cases, including two deaths, and the WHO says one case has been confirmed in Nigeria.
The WHO said it is helping every country bordering the DRC prepare for the possibility that cases cross their frontiers.
Tedros also called on countries that have imposed travel restrictions to lift them. He warned that such measures penalize countries for reporting honestly, reduce the incentive to be transparent, and damage the response effort.
Evacuation to the UK
Separately, a British healthcare worker who contracted Ebola is being moved from the DRC to the United Kingdom for specialist care, a UK government spokesperson said.
The government said the patient is in a stable condition. The worker is expected to reach the UK by Thursday and will then be treated in a unit set up for high-consequence infectious diseases.
The next signal to watch is the trial timetable: the WHO expects early results from the Bundibugyo vaccine studies in early 2027, while containment efforts in the DRC and neighboring countries continue in the meantime.
