A 37-year-old volunteer received the first dose of Oxford University’s experimental ChAdOx1 BDBV vaccine Friday as researchers race to confront an outbreak that has killed more than 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Oxford University has administered the first human dose of an experimental vaccine developed to target the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, marking a major step in efforts to contain a rapidly expanding outbreak in Central and East Africa.
A 37-year-old volunteer named Ed Hunt received the shot Friday in Oxford, a university spokesman told AFP. The candidate, known as ChAdOx1 BDBV, was developed using the same vaccine platform employed in AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The trial comes as health agencies and researchers work to create both vaccines and treatments for the relatively uncommon Ebola strain, which currently has no approved preventive shot or therapy.
More than 1,000 people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda since the outbreak began in May, according to the World Health Organization. The current crisis is the 17th Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC, but only the third linked to the Bundibugyo strain.
“We’ve taken this vaccine candidate from concept to clinic in just eight weeks,” David Pulido-Gomez of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute said in a statement.
“Reaching this milestone in such a short timeframe reflects an extraordinary collaborative effort,” he added.
Oxford announced the launch of the first human trial earlier this month. The phase 1 study will examine the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness in 50 healthy adults over the coming weeks, and researchers are continuing to recruit participants.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations funded the trial, while the Serum Institute of India has already produced a stockpile of 620,000 doses. That supply could allow for faster deployment if the vaccine proves safe and effective and regulators authorize wider use.
Oxford said the research team is also preparing for additional clinical studies with partners in Uganda, pending regulatory approval.
Several other Bundibugyo vaccine candidates are being accelerated toward human testing, while researchers are also developing two potential treatments for the disease.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned last week that the outbreak had “expanded faster than any previous outbreak” of Ebola during the preceding month.
Most infections have remained concentrated in the DRC’s northeastern region, an area rich in minerals but affected by longstanding armed conflict and instability. Cases have also been detected in four other provinces.
Ebola spreads through close physical contact and exposure to infected bodily fluids. The speed of the current outbreak has intensified pressure on governments, health organizations and vaccine developers to move experimental countermeasures into clinical testing as quickly as possible.
The first vaccination in Oxford does not establish that ChAdOx1 BDBV is safe or effective, but it begins the human testing process needed before the shot can be considered for broader use in affected communities.
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