The statement noted that WHO’s committee of external experts had evaluated three candidate vaccines and agreed that they all be deployed to Uganda for a clinical trial against the Sudan ebolavirus—one of the six species of the Ebolavirus genus.
It explained that unlike the Zaire ebolavirus which had sparked most of the recent outbreaks, there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the Sudan ebolavirus.
“The aim of the randomised trial is to evaluate potentially efficacious candidate vaccines, and to possibly contribute to ending the ongoing outbreak and protect populations at risk in the future.
“The trial is the result of a collaborative effort, coordinated by WHO with developers, academic institutions, countries’ sponsoring the production of the vaccine doses, regulatory authorities, other experts and the government of Uganda,” it said.
According to WHO, supplies of one of the three candidate vaccines were expected to arrive Uganda next week and the other two soon after.
It said trial protocol had been conditionally approved by WHO and Uganda and the final approvals are expected soon.
It added that import permits for the vaccines were expected to be issued by the National Regulatory Authority soon.
