Uganda has received a shipment of 1,200 Ebola vaccine doses from the World Health Organization today, writes Elias Biryambarema for Reuters. Three vaccine options - one from the University of Oxford and Serum Institute of India, another by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and a third by Merck & Co Inc. will be considered for use in the clinical trial.
Although 142 people were infected and 56
died since September 20, 2022 health authorities have been reporting that the
last infected person has been healed and sent home. This, according to
Science.org, places a damper on trials that could have a huge impact on a
haemorrhagic disease generally considered to have no cure.
Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said at a
ceremony to receive the vaccines in Entebbe, that the 1,200 doses that arrived
were from the Sabin Vaccine Institute. She said the others would follow.
In the weeks preceding delivery, the
minister and the WHO representative in Uganda, took stock of equipment procured
for the trial - including the cold chain, personal protective equipment, study
tablets for the research teams, and other medical materials.
The Ebola infections saw a downturn in
tourism since September 2022 and the government has been trying to encourage
visitors to the country.
Ebola causes vomiting, diarrhoea, and
bleeding from all body orifices, and spreads through contact with the bodily
fluids of those infected.