WHO backs trials for two new vaccines against Ebola outbreak
By Marta Iraola Iribarren ·
The World Health Organization (WHO) has backed clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccine candidates as health workers battle an outbreak in several African countries that has killed more than 5,300 people.
The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare Ebola variant for which no vaccine has been approved.
“Today WHO expert groups are recommending adding two vaccine candidates to the trial that had been developed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters during a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.
The two vaccine candidates are being developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India and Moderna. The trial will be led by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, with support from international partners, including WHO.
“Vaccines are powerful tools, but they're not substitutes for the proven measures that can save lives now,” Tedros added, citing early care, contact tracing, isolation, safe and dignified burials, and trusted engagement with communities.
The outbreak, which began in the DRC in May, has infected more than 10,000 people, with a fatality rate of over 50%, according to the country’s latest data from 31 October, making it the fastest-growing and most widespread Ebola epidemic on record.
Cases have also been reported in Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda, although the DRC remains the epicentre and the hardest-hit country with 5,103 deaths reported.
In response, some countries, including Ghana and the United States, have introduced travel restrictions on travellers arriving from the DRC.
The WHO chief condemned these measures and recommended against them.
“We call on countries that have imposed travel restrictions to lift them. Such restrictions punish countries for doing the right thing, create disincentives for transparency and harm the response,” he said.
This position is shared by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which, since the beginning of the outbreak, has said that travel restrictions should not be used as a primary public health tool during outbreaks.
Originally published by Euronews Health