The first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine is expected to begin in the Democratic Republic of Congo by the end of October, World Health Organization experts said Tuesday.
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders is conducting a data-gathering study — not a full clinical trial — of Ervebo’s effectiveness in frontline health workers in DRC provinces hard-hit by the Bundibugyo outbreak, with the jab being offered to volunteers as an interim measure.
The group said insights that Ervebo might offer cross-protection against Bundibugyo were no match for evidence from standardised vaccine trials. “The key elements here are insecurity and population displacement, and they’re hindering access to care, disrupting surveillance, and delaying critical research, including, from our perspective, research on vaccine trials,” said Scott. She suggested the Oxford jab could drop into the broader Tumaini trial fairly swiftly — as doses are ready to roll — if the safety and the immunogenicity data from the first trial is “positive and reassuring”.
Ervebo, a vaccine approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, will go through a full-scale human trial in the DRC to see if it offers any cross-protection against Bundibugyo.
The Tumaini trial “will generate urgently-needed data on the efficacy of Ervebo against Bundibugyo virus disease, and will help formulate the policy decisions we need”, Scott told a press conference.
