The race to combat Ebola: what vaccines and treatments are being developed and how long will it take?

A health worker prepares to vaccinate a patient during an Ebola outbreak in Guinea in 2021. So far there is no vaccination for the Bundibugyo strain of the disease. Photograph: Carol Valade/AFP/ View image in fullscreen A health worker prepares to vaccinate a patient during an Ebola outbreak in Guinea in 2021. So far there is no vaccination for the Bundibugyo strain of the disease. Photograph: Carol Valade/AFP/ Explainer The race to combat Ebola: what vaccines and treatments are being developed and how long will it take? With the Bundibugyo strain of the disease spreading across the DRC and Uganda, scientists and researchers are trying to find rapid solutions There is no vaccine or treatment available for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, but this week three vaccine developers were awarded $60m (£45m) in emergency funding as the race to halt the outbreak ramps up. Security issues in the affected region of the DRC, where conflict has displaced tens of thousands, have made it challenging to set up trials to test drugs. Militias operate in the area and some Ebola treatment centres have been attacked. But researchers said they were ready to begin as soon as conditions allowed. “Every day counts in the race against this deadly disease,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which announced the funding on Monday. The vaccines are just part of the work scientists across the globe are undertaking; treatments and preventative measures are also in development. Here are some of the contenders: The IAVI vaccine Considered the “most promising candidate vaccine” , the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) uses the same technology as an existing Ebola vaccine, Ervebo. Ervebo targets the more common Zaire strain of the virus. The WHO expects it to take seven to nine months before doses of the rVSV Bundibugyo vaccine are ready for clinical trials. Mark Feinberg, IAVI’s president, said they were working to accelerate the timeline as much as possible. View image in fullscreen Security issues have hampered the response to Ebola, making it hard to set up drug trials and leading to the destruction of clinics. Photograph: Michel Lunanga/Getty ImagesThe world should have been more prepared, Feinberg said. While there were suggestions after the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in west Africa that vaccines should be prepared, tested and stockpiled against viruses of this kind, they did not result in comprehensive action. “The technologies to make an efficacious Bundibugyo vaccine are available to us, but we need to do the work to demonstrate that they do work,” he said. “And we hopefully will do better in the future as a global health community.” The Oxford vaccine The ChAdOx1 Bundibugyo vaccine, being developed , could be available faster than IAVI’s candidate, with trials within two or three months.