Scientists at University of Oxford are urgently developing a new vaccine that could enter clinical trials within the next two to three months as efforts intensify to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The outbreak, which is centred in DR Congo, has already resulted in about 750 suspected cases and 177 deaths, raising fears among global health experts.
According to the World Health Organization, the outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a species for which there is currently no approved vaccine.
The WHO has now upgraded the risk level in DR Congo from “high” to “very high,” although the organisation maintains that the outbreak has not yet reached pandemic levels.
Researchers at Oxford say they are moving quickly in case the situation worsens and the vaccine becomes urgently needed.
The experimental vaccine uses the same ChAdOx1 technology that Oxford scientists previously used to develop the widely known Covid-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
This adaptable vaccine platform works by using a weakened and genetically modified chimpanzee cold virus to safely carry genetic instructions from the Ebola virus into the body.
Scientists have now loaded the technology with genetic code from the Bundibugyo Ebola strain to train the immune system to recognise and fight the disease without causing infection.
Experts say the vaccine cannot give someone Ebola or trigger symptoms of the disease.
However, researchers caution that there is still no guarantee the vaccine will work effectively until animal studies and human clinical trials are completed.
The WHO recently confirmed that there is currently no animal data proving the vaccine’s effectiveness, although testing is already underway in Oxford laboratories.
A spokesperson said doses could be ready for clinical trials within two to three months if ongoing animal testing produces encouraging results.
The BBC reports that the Serum Institute of India is prepared to mass produce the vaccine once Oxford scientists provide medical-grade materials.
Professor Teresa Lambe of the Oxford Vaccine Group said the team is prioritising speed as concerns over the outbreak continue to grow.
“People are worried about this outbreak. Generally, you prepare for the worst-case scenario,” she said.
She added that while quarantine and contact tracing may help contain the outbreak, scientists cannot afford to slow down vaccine development efforts.
The current outbreak is especially concerning because Bundibugyo Ebola is extremely rare.
Out of six known Ebola virus species, only three are known to cause major outbreaks in humans.
The Bundibugyo strain has only appeared twice before — first in Uganda in 2007 and later in DR Congo in 2012 — and had not been detected for more than a decade before the current outbreak.
Unlike Covid-19 vaccination campaigns, Ebola vaccines are not administered to entire populations.
Instead, health authorities use a strategy known as ring vaccination, where close contacts of infected patients, frontline healthcare workers, and individuals at high risk are immunised to stop the virus from spreading further.
Oxford researchers had already been working on vaccines targeting the Sudan strain of Ebola as well as the Marburg virus before shifting urgent attention to the Bundibugyo outbreak.
Global health experts say the coming months will be critical in determining whether the new vaccine can help contain one of the world’s most dangerous viral diseases before it spreads further across the region.