First human trial of experimental Ebola vaccine
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Kerran eräällä vantaalaisella miehellä venyi After Work It pitkäksi. Huonon omatunnon vaivaama hurvittelija riensi Alepan kautta kotiin, missä hän valmisti ärtyneelle puolisolleen sovitteluaterian. Zorizori pasta sai ajan saatossa nimen Zorizoa pasta. Sitä syödään tänä päivänä ympäri maailmaa. Alepa. Urbaani legenda.
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk and in the afternoon of Friday the 24th of July, these are our main stories. An experimental vaccine against the Ebola virus ravaging Central Africa has been administered to a volunteer for the first time. There have been more strikes and counter-strikes across Iran and the Gulf. Also in this podcast, India's massive youth movement, the Cockroach Janata Party, has been putting its case to government ministers. We will get this to the end. We will finish what we started. The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 1,000 people. And this particular strain or species, known as the Bundibugyo, has no approved vaccine.
But there is hope. Several are currently being trialled. One of them, being developed by the Oxford Vaccine Group, part of Oxford University, has taken a major step forward. Today, someone had the first ever dose of the experimental vaccine.
OK, so I'm just going to administer the ejection here. Sometimes it can be a bit stingy when it goes in, but be over with quite quickly.
That's fine.
And just relax as much as you possibly can.
Thank you. The BBC's medical editor, Fergus Walsh, was in Oxford for the event. He began by telling me about that first volunteer who we just heard in that clip. So the volunteer is a man called Ed Hunt. He's 37 and he volunteered after he saw news reports of what's happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In fact, he told me he'd wanted to volunteer for the COVID vaccine trials, but he wasn't able to at the time. So he's had his name down, as it were. And he's one of 50 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 who are currently being recruited for this trial in Oxford. They'll all receive one dose of the experimental Ebola vaccine, which is against the Bundibuja species of Ebola, for which there is no vaccine at the moment.
If it works then, and if this is successful, how quickly can the help then get to the people who need it in the DRC? So what will happen pretty soon is a similar smallish trial will begin in Uganda where people will be immunised. And those vaccine trials currently are to look primarily at safety. But if they're successful, they will then expand the trial in DR Congo and that will be in the affected areas. Now, what they're doing as well as monitoring the safety of the vaccine is they're checking for immune responses. Obviously, none of the volunteers will be given Ebola. But if the jab produces a very strong immune response, which they're hoping it will, then it can be used actually to protect people who may be contacts of Ebola patients within a matter of months.
And indeed, the Serum Institute, the biggest vaccine manufacturer in the world, has produced 600,000 doses already. of this Oxford Ebola vaccine, which are waiting in the wings should the trials prove successful. So they will have the doses they need. There is already a successful and a very effective vaccine against the Zaire species of Ebola. And there's a lot of optimism that this vaccine could be effective. And it's actually one of four vaccines that have been developed against the Budibidosh species, but it's the first one to go into human trials. And of course, it is desperately needed. These vaccines can cost millions, if not tens of millions to develop. How is this all going to be paid for ultimately in the long run?
It's actually getting funding from a variety of sources, including CEPI, which is the Coalition of Pandemic Preparedness. And there's no money going to be made here. It's not a money-making venture.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–5:47
2
What happened during the first human dose of the experimental Bundibugyo Ebola vaccine?
5:47–12:37
3
Who are the volunteers and how will the Oxford trial assess safety and immune response?
12:37–15:25
4
If the vaccine works, how quickly could doses be deployed to affected areas in DR Congo?
15:25–24:21
5
Who is funding Ebola vaccine development and will manufacturers supply doses quickly?
24:21–27:38
6
What are the latest military strikes between the US and Iran and how is the conflict widening?
27:38–28:16
Speakers
6 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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