WHO announces start of Ebola vaccine clinical trial in DR Congo

A health worker administers a dose of Ebola vaccine as part of the Tumaini trial in Ituri, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on October 23, 2026 [Dieudonne Dirole/AP]

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the beginning of the first clinical trial of an Ebola vaccine in the outbreak that started in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

WHO’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a social media post on Friday that participants in the trial were vaccinated with the Ervebo vaccine in Bunia, the capital of the DRC’s northeastern Ituri province, which is the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak.

list 1 of 3 Kenya announces second Ebola death, says ‘no evidence’ of community spread

list 2 of 3 Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials say

list 3 of 3 WHO warns ‘more complex’ Ebola outbreak now present in 3 African countries

Ervebo, a vaccine approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, will be put through a full-scale human trial to see if it offers any cross-protection against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola that is behind the epidemic.

“This trial will help us understand whether any of the vaccine candidates designed for Bundibugyo virus work,” the WHO chief said on X.

“WHO is supporting this DRC-led effort to find answers and save lives,” he added.

The DRC declared its 17th and worst-ever Ebola outbreak in May and has since reported more than 9,700 cases, with the number of deaths exceeding 4,600.

The WHO, in response, triggered a public health emergency of international concern, its second-highest alert level.

The current outbreak has now been reported in four countries across eastern, central ⁠⁠and western Africa, giving it the widest geographic spread of any Ebola outbreak on the continent to date.

Vaccines in the pipeline

The so-called Tumaini trial is a single trial framework that can test the safety, efficacy and immunogenicity of multiple vaccines.

The trial will use a ring vaccination approach: immunising contacts deemed to be at high risk of infection.

The trial is set to incorporate two Bundibugyo-specific candidate vaccines, which are currently advancing through earlier-stage, smaller-scale clinical trials.

One is a ChAdOx1 adenoviral vector jab being developed by the University of Oxford; the other, by the US-based Moderna group, uses mRNA technology.

Both have received funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and are expected to enter the trial “shortly”, CEPI said in a statement.

The trial will include pregnant women and children aged 12 years and older, generating evidence for populations that are often excluded from clinical trials.

WHO emergencies director Chikwe Ihekweazu said the trial was set up to generate the rigorous evidence needed to determine whether the participating vaccines could protect people at risk.

2026年10月23日，在刚果民主共和国伊图里省，一名医务人员正在为患者接种埃博拉疫苗，这是图迈尼试验的一部分。[Dieudonne Dirole/AP]

世界卫生组织（世卫组织）宣布，针对始于刚果民主共和国（刚果（金））的埃博拉疫情，首个埃博拉疫苗临床试验正式启动。

世界卫生组织总干事谭德塞周五在社交媒体上发帖称，试验参与者在刚果民主共和国东北部伊图里省首府布尼亚接种了Ervebo疫苗，而伊图里省正是埃博拉疫情的中心。

肯尼亚宣布第二例埃博拉死亡病例，称“没有证据”表明存在社区传播（列表1/3）。

卫生官员称，尼日利亚首例埃博拉病例与刚果民主共和国毒株相符（共3例，此为第2例）。

世卫组织警告称，埃博拉疫情目前已在三个非洲国家爆发，情况“更加复杂”（名单3/3）。

Ervebo 是一种已获批准用于对抗更常见的扎伊尔埃博拉病毒株的疫苗，它将接受全面人体试验，以检验其是否能对引发此次疫情的邦迪布焦埃博拉病毒株提供任何交叉保护。

“这项试验将帮助我们了解针对邦迪布焦病毒设计的任何候选疫苗是否有效，”世卫组织总干事在X上表示。

“世界卫生组织正在支持这项由刚果民主共和国牵头寻找答案和拯救生命的努力，”他补充道。

刚果民主共和国于 5 月宣布爆发第 17 次也是有史以来最严重的埃博拉疫情，此后报告了超过 9700 例病例，死亡人数超过 4600 人。

世界卫生组织对此做出反应，启动了“国际关注的突发公共卫生事件”警报，这是其第二高的警戒级别。

目前，埃博拉疫情已蔓延至非洲东部、中部和西部的四个国家，是迄今为止非洲大陆上埃博拉疫情传播范围最广的一次。

正在研发中的疫苗

所谓的图迈尼试验是一个单一的试验框架，可以测试多种疫苗的安全性、有效性和免疫原性。

该试验将采用环状疫苗接种方法：对被认为感染风险较高的接触者进行免疫接种。

该试验将纳入两种针对邦迪布焦的候选疫苗，这两种疫苗目前正在进行早期、小规模的临床试验。

其中一种是由牛津大学开发的 ChAdOx1 腺病毒载体疫苗；另一种是由美国 Moderna 公司开发的，采用 mRNA 技术。

CEPI在一份声明中表示，这两项研究均已获得流行病防范创新联盟的资助，预计“很快”将进入试验阶段。

该试验将包括孕妇和 12 岁及以上的儿童，为通常被排除在临床试验之外的人群提供证据。

世界卫生组织突发卫生事件规划执行主任奇克韦·伊赫克韦祖表示，设立这项试验是为了产生所需的严格证据，以确定参与试验的疫苗是否能够保护高危人群。