Madar (International) - World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Friday the start of a first clinical trial of a vaccine against the Ebola virus, aimed at tackling the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Science gives us hope. Today in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the first participants received a vaccine dose in a new Ebola trial called 'Tumaini', which means 'hope' in Swahili," he wrote on X.
The current outbreak is the worst in the DR Congo's history, with more than 9,700 cases and over 4,600 deaths. The trial began with a first dose of the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, capital of Ituri province in the northeast of the country and one of the outbreak's hotspots.
Tedros said the trial would help assess how effective candidate vaccines are against the Bundibugyo strain, with Ervebo tested in parallel. Ervebo is approved against the Zaire strain, the most widespread, and the trial aims to check whether it offers cross-protection against Bundibugyo, the strain behind the current outbreak.
There are currently no vaccines or treatments approved specifically for the Bundibugyo strain. The Tumaini trial provides a common framework to assess the safety and efficacy of different vaccines and their ability to trigger an immune response.
