University Hospital Southampton joined the first clinical trial of a vaccine for Bundibugyo ebolavirus on September 2. The trial was developed in response to an ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The ChAdOx1 Ebola BDBV vaccine was developed by scientists at the University of Oxford. There is currently no approved vaccine made specifically for this species of Ebola.
The Southampton site plans to recruit 50 healthy volunteers between 18 and 55 years old. Depending on their study group, participants will receive one or two doses of the vaccine or a placebo.
Researchers will follow the volunteers for a year to check the vaccine’s safety and the immune response it produces. They hope the work could help protect communities during this outbreak and future ones.
