Uganda on Monday started the first ever vaccination trial for the Sudan species of the Ebola virus four days after an outbreak was confirmed, the World Health Organization announced.
It is the sixth time Uganda has been hit by an outbreak of the Ebola Sudan virus, for which there is no approved vaccine. Of the five other Ebola species, just one has licensed vaccines.
The deadliest Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,300 people in west Africa between 2013 and 2016.
The UN health agency said it had supported Ugandan health authorities in getting the trial ready in the days following the announcement that a 32-year-old male nurse had died of Ebola in Kampala.
“This vaccination trial was initiated with record speed,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
He said the trial, launched at a ceremony in Kampala by Uganda’s health minister, “demonstrates the importance of investing in R&D for vaccines and treatments and outbreak response preparedness”.
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