The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a health entity, has vowed to contribute about $60 million to fast-track the development of vaccine candidates against the Bundibugyo ebolavirus.
“With Bundibugyo virus spreading rapidly and no licensed vaccines, every day counts in the race against this deadly disease,” said CEPI CEO Dr. Richard Hatchett. “CEPI’s urgent funding and support for these three promising candidates aims to advance safe, effective vaccines to help control this epidemic.”
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said that CEPI’s investment in the vaccine candidates is an “important step forward in our collective response. WHO is supporting the governments of DRC and Uganda as they lead the public health effort, while working with CEPI and partners to advance safe, effective vaccines at pace.” He added that the action is “exactly the kind of cross-sectoral collaboration that epidemic response demands.”
Another vaccine entity, GAVI, previously announced that it is working alongside CEPI to find vaccine candidates. “Considering the extremely limited available evidence on cross-protection against non-Zaire species, any decision to use this vaccine in the current BVD outbreak will require further assessments and will occur in accordance with WHO guidance, and only with the explicit informed consent and understanding of affected communities that the benefit of the vaccine against BVD is currently unknown,” GAVI said in a statement, discussing the use of a vaccine for a separate Ebola strain.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted two candidates for the vaccine, one leveraging the rVSV platform, although there are no doses available for clinical trials, and one leveraging the ChAdOx platform, which was used for COVID-19 vaccines, although there are no animal or human studies available for the vaccine.
