Daijiworld Media Network - Oxford

Oxford, Jul 25: The first volunteer in the world has received an experimental vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, marking the start of human trials for a vaccine developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.

The first participant, 37-year-old UK resident Ed Hunt, received the vaccine in Oxford. He is the first of 50 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 to be enrolled in the Phase 1 clinical trial.

Hunt said he decided to participate after following reports of the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"I had wanted to volunteer for the Covid vaccine trial but was unable to because of work commitments. After seeing news from DR Congo, I thought I'd like to do my bit," he said.

The vaccine has been developed using the same technology that was used to create the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which was administered to hundreds of millions of people worldwide during the pandemic.

Professor Teresa Lambe, who leads the Ebola vaccine team at the University of Oxford, said the vaccine was developed in just eight weeks, thanks to decades of prior research.

She said the Phase 1 trial would assess the vaccine's safety and determine whether it generates a strong immune response capable of protecting against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.

"We will not be giving anybody Ebola in this trial or any trial. The aim of the Phase 1 clinical study is to look for the safety of the vaccine and also to see if we're getting a strong immune response that could be protective against the Bundibugyo species of Ebola," she said.

Researchers said the vaccine cannot cause Ebola infection.

Although four vaccines targeting the Bundibugyo strain are currently under development, this is the first to enter human clinical trials. While a licensed vaccine already exists for the Zaire strain of Ebola, it is not effective against the Bundibugyo variant.

The Oxford team said a second small-scale clinical trial is expected to begin shortly in Uganda, followed by a larger efficacy study in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Serum Institute of India has already produced 600,000 doses of the experimental vaccine, which could be deployed if the ongoing clinical trials prove successful.

According to available data, the Democratic Republic of Congo has recorded more than 2,500 confirmed Ebola cases, including over 1,000 deaths.