The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended two experimental vaccines developed by the University of Oxford and Moderna for clinical trials against the deadly Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, as the outbreak’s death toll exceeds 5,300.
WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the recommendation on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, following a review by the organisation’s expert groups.
The candidates are ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by Oxford University in partnership with India’s Serum Institute, and mRNA-1469, produced by American biotechnology company Moderna. Both were specifically designed to target the Bundibugyo virus, for which no licensed vaccine exists.
Their proposed inclusion will expand the TUMAINI clinical trial, launched on October 23, 2026, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The study initially began with Ervebo, an Ebola vaccine licensed against the Zaire strain but not the Bundibugyo variant.
TUMAINI is a Phase 2/3 study evaluating multiple vaccine candidates. It is co-led by the DRC’s National Institute for Biomedical Research and the University of Antwerp, under the country’s Ministry of Health.
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Bundibugyo has caused two previous documented outbreaks: Uganda recorded 131 cases and 42 deaths in 2007, while an outbreak in northeastern DRC in 2012 resulted in 62 cases and 34 deaths.
The current outbreak is considerably larger. The DRC declared it on May 15, 2026, and the WHO designated it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern two days later.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) figures released on November 2 recorded 5,376 deaths and 10,444 confirmed infections across affected countries. The DRC accounted for 5,372 fatalities, while Kenya and Uganda recorded two each.
The WHO has urged continued emphasis on early treatment, contact tracing, patient isolation, safe burials and community engagement, stressing that vaccination research cannot replace immediate outbreak-control measures.
Neither new candidate is approved for public use against Bundibugyo. Both must undergo clinical evaluation to establish their safety and effectiveness.