First volunteer vaccinated in Ebola vaccine trial

The first volunteer has been vaccinated in a phase 1 trial of an investigational vaccine that targets the Bundibugyo virus.

The trial is assessing the safety and immune response of ChAdOx1 BDBV in 50 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 years. The vaccine was developed by researchers with the Oxford Vaccine Group, which is conducting the trial with support from the Serum Institute of India and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness.

“This is an important milestone for the trial, and marks the next phase in our multinational collaborative journey to develop a Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccine,” Oxford Vaccine Group associate director and chief trial investigator Katrina Pollock, PhD, said in a University of Oxford press release.

The Bundibugyo virus, one of six Ebola known viruses, is the cause of the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which currently stands at 3,200 confirmed cases and 1,405 deaths and is the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record. There are no licensed vaccines or treatments for Bundibugyo. A trial assessing two treatments began earlier this month in DRC.

More healthcare workers go on strike

Meanwhile, more healthcare workers in DRC have gone on strike, the Associated Press reports. The latest strike is at the Elikya Ebola Treatment Center in Ituri, the province at the center of the outbreak.

Workers at the treatment center said they had authorized a strike to protest two months of unpaid bonuses.

“We need to be paid, because in the meantime the disease is spreading at the treatment center,” one of the striking healthcare workers told the AP.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 119 healthcare workers in DRC have been infected since the beginning of the outbreak.