Oxford gives first trial dose of vaccine for Bundibugyo Ebola strain

A volunteer in Oxford was injected with the first dose of a rapidly developed vaccine aimed at the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Oxford University said. The strain is driving a deadly outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The first dose was given on Friday to Ed Hunt, a 37-year-old volunteer, a university spokesman said. Oxford said the ChAdOx1 BDBV vaccine uses the same technology as AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.

More than 1,270 people have been killed out of nearly 3,000 infections in the DRC and Uganda since the outbreak emerged in May, according to the most recent World Health Organization figures cited in the report. Researchers and health organisations have been trying to move vaccines and treatments for the relatively rare strain into human testing.

David Pulido-Gomez of Oxford's Pandemic Sciences Institute said the vaccine candidate had moved from concept to clinic in eight weeks. The trial was funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. The Serum Institute of India has already manufactured a stockpile of 620,000 doses.

The phase 1 trial is expected to test the vaccine's safety and effectiveness in 50 healthy adults in the coming weeks, and researchers are recruiting more volunteers. Oxford said the team is preparing for further clinical studies with partners in Uganda if regulatory approval is granted.

Oxford said several other Bundibugyo vaccine candidates are also being urgently developed towards trials, and two possible treatments are being worked on.

The outbreak is the 17th in the DRC's history and only the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain, for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X that the outbreak continues to outpace the response, partly because contact tracing cannot reach every remote community. He also said insecurity and active conflict are limiting access to affected areas, and that the real number of cases could be more than twice as high.

The outbreak has remained concentrated in the DRC's northeastern province, described in the report as mineral-rich and affected by conflict. Cases have also been found in four other DRC provinces. Ebola spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids.