WHO announces start of Ebola vaccine clinical trial in DR Congo

Published On 24 Oct 202624 Oct 2026The 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.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Kenya announces second Ebola death, says ‘no evidence’ of community spreadlist 2 of 3Nigeria’s first Ebola case matches DR Congo strain, health officials saylist 3 of 3WHO warns ‘more complex’ Ebola outbreak now present in 3 African countriesend of listErvebo, 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 ...