WHO Delivers First Batch of Potential Ebola Vaccine to Uganda

Since September, Uganda has been experiencing an outbreak of the Ebola virus. The variation of the virus circulating in Uganda country is the Sudan strain, which is less prevalent in Africa in general than the Zaire variant. Since there is no vaccine that has proven effective yet, the WHO ha recommended three vaccine candidates for evaluation.

Uganda has received a shipment of 1,200 doses of vaccine candidates against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus circulating in the country from the World Health Organization, Uganda’s Ministry of Health announced on Thursday.

According to the health ministry, the doses provided by the WHO are the first batch of one of three potential vaccines recommended by the UN body for clinical trial.

The WHO announced earlier that it was planning to deliver three potential vaccines to the East African country, including one developed by the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India, another by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and a third by Merck & Co., Inc.

The World Health Organization’s office in Uganda said that the delivery of the first batch of the candidate vaccine was “a milestone for the outbreak,” adding that the shot will be evaluated in a clinical trial called “Tokomeza Ebola”.

“This is a historic day for the country & the world of scientific health research. For the 1st time, vaccines for clinical trials are produced in less than 90 days after the start of an Ebola outbreak,” said the Incident Manager for the WHO Country Office in Uganda, Dr. Charles Njuguna. “This is a remarkable effort!”

Meanwhile, Uganda’s Health Minister Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero called on scientists all around the world to continue conducting research on Ebola medicines and vaccines to avoid outbreaks of the deadly virus in the future.

“It is 09 days today that we have no new cases of Ebola, but that does not mean we are out of the outbreak,” Dr. Aceng said in a news briefing. "Uganda encourages scientists to continue research to support the provision of appropriate drugs and vaccines to prevent future outbreaks.”

Earlier this month, health officials announced they were discharging the country’s last known Ebola patient from hospital.

Since September, Uganda has registered at least 142 cases of infection with the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, including 56 deaths according to the country’s health authorities, with more than 2,000 contacts of confirmed cases being tracked down or kept under observation.

As of the present time, no vaccine has proven effective in fighting the Sudan strain, which usually kills 40%-60% of those infected.