--- title: Scientists Race to Make the First Bundibugyo Ebola Vaccine as Congo's Outbreak Grows description: A deadly Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Congo has no vaccine. Inside the fast, multi-candidate global race now trying to change that. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) updated: 2026-08-27T13:22:45.284Z canonical: https://richhealthmagazine.com/article/bundibugyo-ebola-vaccine-race-drc-outbreak image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/bundibugyo-ebola-vaccine-race-214795.webp categories: Longevity & Science content_type: News region: Global publication: Rich Health Magazine schema_type: Article --- An Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo is being driven by a strain of the virus that no licensed vaccine can prevent, and the effort to close that gap has just gained another contender. On 27 August the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, known as CEPI, said it would fund Egypt's Minapharm to develop a vaccine against Bundibugyo, the strain behind the current emergency. It is the newest move in a fast, well-funded global push to get the first-ever Bundibugyo jab through trials while the outbreak is still growing. ## CEPI Backs an Egyptian Company to Add Another Candidate CEPI will provide up to US$16.5 million to Minapharm, working with its Berlin subsidiary ProBioGen, to take a Bundibugyo vaccine candidate through preclinical development and into an early-stage Phase 1 clinical trial, which is expected to take place in Africa. The candidate uses ProBioGen's MVA-CR19 platform, a modified vaccinia Ankara viral vector produced on the company's AGE1 cell line. Minapharm is an African company, and its involvement was welcomed as a sign of the continent taking on more of its own emergency response. "A vaccine candidate advanced by an African company is exactly the kind of capability our continent needs," said the head of Africa CDC, Dr Jean Kaseya. ## The Emergency Has Spread Across Six Provinces Since May This is the Democratic Republic of Congo's 17th Ebola outbreak, first alerted on 5 May 2026 and confirmed on 15 May in the Mongbwalu health zone of Ituri Province. The World Health Organization declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 17 May, a designation covering both the DRC and neighbouring Uganda. As of 12 August, the WHO had [recorded 4,665 confirmed cases and 2,184 deaths](https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2026-DON615), a case fatality ratio of nearly 47 per cent, with the virus reaching six provinces, Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Haut-Uele, Tshopo and Bas-Uele, across 54 health zones. That makes this the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, behind only the West Africa epidemic of 2014 to 2016, which reached 28,652 cases. ## Existing Ebola Vaccines Do Not Protect Against This Strain Two Ebola vaccines are already licensed, rVSV-ZEBOV, sold as Ervebo, and the Zabdeno and Mvabea regimen. Both target Zaire ebolavirus, a different member of the Ebola family. Bundibugyo carries different genetic material and different surface proteins, so an immune response trained against Zaire does not reliably protect against it. There is no licensed vaccine for Bundibugyo at all. That absence is what CEPI is now spending heavily to fix, funding several candidates in parallel rather than betting on one. Alongside the Minapharm work, its backing includes [three further candidates](https://cepi.net/cepi-fast-tracks-three-bundibugyo-ebolavirus-vaccine-candidates): Moderna's mRNA candidate, with up to US$50 million; the University of Oxford's ChAdOx1 candidate with the Serum Institute of India, up to US$8.6 million; and IAVI's rVSV candidate, up to US$3.2 million. > "With Bundibugyo virus spreading rapidly and no licensed vaccines, every day counts in the race against this deadly disease." > — Dr Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive of CEPI The Oxford effort is furthest along. The Oxford Vaccine Group launched the world's first Phase 1 trial of a Bundibugyo vaccine in Oxford, testing ChAdOx1 BDBV, based on the same viral-vector platform as the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, in 50 healthy adults aged 18 to 55. Announced on 13 July, it began, as Professor Teresa Lambe noted, "only 57 days since the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern." Lambe added that the outbreak "continues to devastate affected communities, underlining the urgent need for effective vaccines and treatments." ## African and Indian Manufacturers Are Central to the Response The speed of the Oxford trial depended on manufacturing capacity far from Europe. The Serum Institute of India produced about 620,000 doses in two weeks and supplied 4,000 investigational doses for that first human study. With Minapharm now joining as an African developer, two central parts of the response, making the doses and developing a home-grown candidate, are being handled outside the traditional Western vaccine hubs. For a continent that has often waited at the back of the queue for vaccines in past emergencies, this outbreak is being met partly from its own laboratories and factories. ## FAQ **Q: What is Bundibugyo virus?** Bundibugyo is one of the strains of Ebola that can cause disease in people. It was first identified in 2007 after an outbreak in Uganda's Bundibugyo District, near the DRC border. Fruit bats are the suspected natural reservoir, and the incubation period runs from 2 to 21 days. **Q: Is there a vaccine for Bundibugyo ebolavirus?** Not yet. No vaccine is licensed against Bundibugyo. Several candidates are now in or approaching trials, including Oxford's, which is already being tested in healthy volunteers, plus candidates from Moderna, IAVI and, most recently, Egypt's Minapharm. **Q: Does the existing Ebola vaccine, Ervebo, protect against Bundibugyo?** Ervebo and the other licensed regimen both target Zaire ebolavirus, a different strain. Because Bundibugyo has different surface proteins, protection cannot be assumed to carry over. Professor Emma Thompson has noted that laboratory work in non-human primates suggests the Zaire vaccine may provide partial heterologous protection, but that this cannot be assumed to translate into reliable protection in people during an outbreak. **Q: How deadly is the Bundibugyo strain?** Historically its case fatality has run at 30 to 50 per cent. In the current outbreak the World Health Organization has put it at nearly 47 per cent. **Q: How big is the current DRC Ebola outbreak?** As of 12 August 2026, the WHO had recorded 4,665 confirmed cases and 2,184 deaths across six provinces and 54 health zones, making it the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record.