First volunteer receives experimental Ebola
Photo: Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne /AP/TT

First volunteer receives experimental Ebola vaccine in UK trial

A rapidly developed vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus is now being tested on a volunteer in the UK.

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The virus outbreak, which has mainly affected Congo-Kinshasa, has so far claimed at least 1,270 lives, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nearly 3,000 people have been infected.

Attempts to develop a vaccine against the Bundibugyo variant of Ebola are underway in several places, and on Friday, Oxford University announced that a dose had been given to a 37-year-old volunteer in Oxford.

According to David Pulido-Gomez at the university's Pandemic Institute, it took eight weeks to develop the experimental vaccine, which is based on AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.

In the trial phase, around 50 healthy adults will receive the vaccine in the coming weeks. In the next step, trials are planned in Ebola-stricken Uganda.

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AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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