The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved clinical trials of two new Ebola vaccine candidates specifically developed to combat the deadly Bundibugyo virus strain ravaging parts of Africa, where more than 5,300 people have reportedly died.
The approval comes amid growing fears over the outbreak, which has recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) bearing the heaviest burden.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the development on Wednesday, saying expert groups had recommended the addition of the two experimental vaccines to an ongoing clinical trial.
The vaccines are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, and mRNA-1469, developed by American pharmaceutical company Moderna.
Both candidates were specifically developed against the Bundibugyo virus, a strain responsible for the current outbreak.
Tedros explained that a trial involving Ervebo, an already approved Ebola vaccine, began last month. However, the vaccine does not protect against the Bundibugyo strain.
The new trial is being led by the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research, with support from WHO and other international partners.
While welcoming the development, Tedros warned that vaccines alone would not be enough to stop the outbreak.
He stressed the need for early treatment, contact tracing, isolation, safe burials and cooperation with affected communities to prevent further transmission.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Monday that the epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, with the vast majority of deaths recorded in the DRC.
It put the number of confirmed infections at 10,444, with the fatality rate exceeding 50 per cent.
NIGERIA ON HIGH ALERT
Nigeria is also battling an imported case of the Bundibugyo virus after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) confirmed an infection in the Federal Capital Territory on October 20.
The patient was a woman who had travelled from Uganda, making Nigeria the fifth country to detect the virus since the outbreak was declared in the DRC on May 15, 2026.
She was subsequently evacuated to Switzerland on October 26 for further medical treatment alongside her husband, who was identified as a close contact.
The NCDC’s situation dashboard, as of November 3, listed one confirmed case and no deaths in Nigeria.
It also showed that 62 contacts had been identified, with 57 placed in quarantine for monitoring.
The development has revived memories of Nigeria’s 2014 Ebola outbreak, when an infected Liberian traveller, Patrick Sawyer, brought the virus into Lagos.
The disease subsequently spread to Port Harcourt, resulting in 20 cases and eight deaths.
However, Nigeria successfully contained the outbreak, with WHO declaring the country free of Ebola transmission on October 20, 2014, after 42 days without a new case.
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