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57 Days After Ebola Declaration, a Medical Milestone
Newser • • health
Key Points:
- The UK has approved the first human trial of a new Ebola vaccine targeting the strain behind the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, just 57 days after the emergency was declared.
- Developed by the University of Oxford, the vaccine uses the same viral vector platform as the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and will be administered to 50 healthy adults in the UK soon.
- The vaccine employs a genetically modified chimpanzee cold virus carrying genetic material from the Bundibugyo Ebola strain to stimulate an immune response without causing infection.
- The Serum Institute of India has produced and stockpiled approximately 620,000 doses, with 4,000 allocated for the Phase I trial and the remainder reserved for future trials and potential emergency use.
- Additional trials are expected to take place in Africa as part of the vaccine's development process.
