According to Dr. Mosoka Fallah, the Acting Director of the Science and Innovation Directorate at the Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC), Uganda initially received 2,160 doses to kick-start the study. Further shipments are expected as researchers work to determine the vaccine’s ability to prevent transmission among high-risk individuals.
Uganda is set to receive additional doses of a vaccine being studied to assess its effectiveness in preventing Ebola infection among close contacts of those infected with the Sudan strain of the virus. The randomized clinical study was launched on February 3, just three days after a new Ebola outbreak was declared in the country.
According to Dr. Mosoka Fallah, the Acting Director of the Science and Innovation Directorate at the Africa Centers for Disease Control (Africa CDC), Uganda initially received 2,160 doses to kick-start the study. Further shipments are expected as researchers work to determine the vaccine’s ability to prevent transmission among high-risk individuals.
However, with the vaccine trial progressing, he says they
are ferrying into the country an additional 10,000 doses donated by IAVI.
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The already existing doses …
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thing quite accelerated”. //
As of February 10, which is when the Health Ministry last updated about the Ebola
situation, nine people had been confirmed positive for the disease and Dr. Bruce Kirenga, the Principal Investigator
of the study says it’s contacts of these cases that they are relying on to
conduct the study.
He told URN
in an interview, that 265 contacts had been identified by Friday and majority
of them have already been consented to participate in the research.
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We have managed …
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the trial”. //
Experts explain
that to be able to do this study, they have randomized participants into eight
rings and vaccination has already kicked off in seven of them. It should be
noted that this study initially launched in 2022 during the Ebola outbreak in Mubende
but was botched shortly after it start when Uganda was declared Ebola free.
Asked
whether the newly launched study may suffer the same fate as the previous one
considering that the risk of further transmission is being estimated as minimal
by other scientists observing the outbreak, Kirenga who is also the Executive
Director of the Makerere University Lung Institute said when this happens, they
will have no choice but to stop and wait for another similar outbreak.
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The rate at …
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a trial base”. //
Uganda has had
Ebola seven outbreaks of the Sudan strain of Ebola however there is currently no
licensed vaccine available to effectively combat a potential future outbreak of
Ebola disease from the Sudan species of the virus.
Licensed vaccines exist only
for the disease caused by Ebola virus, formerly known as Zaïre ebolavirus.
Studies to establish the efficacy of these vaccines used the same approach being
used in the current study.
When it comes
to treatments, the strain currently circulating in Uganda has no approved ones,
approved treatments are only available for Ebola virus.
