A vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus will be ready by the end of the year, the director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.
The Bundibugyo strain of the virus that has caused a major outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo currently has no approved vaccine or treatment.
Jean Kaseya, director of the Africa CDC, said there are already “some candidates” for a vaccine.
“What we can tell you for sure is that by the end of this year, 2026, the Africa CDC will make sure that we have a vaccine and a medicine against Bundibugyo,” he told reporters in an online briefing.
“Our leaders are willing to invest. We are investing at a technical level, at a strategic level, to make sure (the vaccine) happens,” he added.
Kaseya said he had received a message the previous day from the Russian Health Ministry stating that it had already developed a vaccine against the strain.
A member of his team clarified that the proposed vaccine targets the Zaire strain of Ebola and that upcoming talks with the Gamaleya National Research Center in Moscow would indicate why it may be effective against the Bundibugyo strain.
Kaseya said there have been at least 1,077 suspected cases since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths.
This figure is slightly higher than the latest figures from the World Health Organization, which has announced 10 confirmed deaths and 223 suspected deaths from Ebola.
