The first doses of one of the candidate vaccines once morest Ebola arrived in Uganda on Thursday, the Minister of Health announced, as the World Health Organization (WHO) considers that the country has “started the countdown“towards the end of the epidemic.
This disease has reappeared in central Uganda, with a first case from a strain called “Sudanesereported on September 20 in Mubende district. Since then, 56 people have died from the virus, out of a total of 142 people infected.
“We are very pleased that Uganda today received 1,200 doses of one of the three candidate vaccines once morest the Sudanese strain of Ebola virus.“, told AFP Jane Ruth Aceng, Minister of Health.
While there is no vaccine available once morest this strain, the WHO has given the green light for a clinical trial of three candidate vaccines to be conducted in Uganda.
The vaccines delivered Thursday were developed by the Sabin Institute located in the United States with the support of the American authorities.
Two others, one developed by the University of Oxford and the Jenner Institute in the UK and produced by the Serum Institute of India and the other developed by the scientific research organization International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) , will be added later.
This is a vaccine trial”ring“, a method in which contacts of patients, or even contacts of contacts, are targeted.
Ugandan authorities said in November that cases of contamination were down.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, estimated on Thursday that with the last confirmed case discharged from hospital on November 30, the country had “started the countdown“towards an end to the epidemic.
