<\/p>\n
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said the vaccines would be evaluated during an active Bundibugyo outbreak for the first time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The candidates are ChAdOx1, developed by the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India, and mRNA-1469, developed by Moderna. \u201cThe fact that these vaccines are ready to enter clinical trials is a testament to the power of science and partnership,\u201d WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cVaccines alone will not end this outbreak, but they could become a powerful new tool for bringing it under control.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
More than 10 500 confirmed infections and 5 126 deaths had been recorded in the DRC by November 1.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo species, has continued for almost six months.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHO is supporting the Tumaini multi-vaccine trial, which began in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, on October 23. Tumaini means \u201chope\u201d in Swahili.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Ervebo vaccine, developed to protect against the Zaire Ebola species, is already being assessed to determine whether it offers protection against Bundibugyo Ebola.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The two new vaccine candidates will join the trial once national regulatory approvals have been secured.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tumaini is designed to evaluate several candidates within one trial using a ring-vaccination approach.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The strategy focuses on people who have had contact with confirmed Ebola patients, along with other individuals linked to those contacts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WHO and partners used the same approach during the West African Ebola outbreak a decade ago. A trial in Guinea later established the effectiveness of the Ervebo vaccine against Zaire Ebola.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Four vaccination rings have been established in the DRC, with several more being prepared.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Research into possible treatments is also progressing as health authorities and humanitarian partners work to contain transmission.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":43407,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-50206","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Two vaccines designed specifically for the Bundibugyo Ebola virus will enter clinical trials as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) battles the largest outbreak in the country\u2019s history.","published_date":"","news_description":"Two vaccines designed specifically for the Bundibugyo Ebola virus will enter clinical trials as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) battles the largest outbreak in the country\u2019s history.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50209,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/50206\/revisions\/50209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=50206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}