Scientists meet over Ebola vaccine

On Wednesday, the WHO declared Uganda Ebola-free after spending two incubation cycles of 21 days each making 42 days since the discharge of the last confirmed case on November 30, 2022.

The WHO representative in Uganda, Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, said the meeting has attract majority of the global health experts, who will sit with the Ugandan scientists to discuss the protocols of the study.

It should noted that towards the end of last year, the Ministry of Health received the second batch of Ebola vaccine set to be used in clinical trials.

At the time, WHO explained that there were no licensed vaccines for the Sudan strain of the virus that caused the infections in Uganda, adding that the trial is to determine whether any of the vaccines are effective in combating the Sudan strain.

Tegegn said a total of 5256 doses of Ebola vaccine were received and that they were going to be tried on individuals who are willing to volunteer. Makerere University Lung Institute is the principal investigator.

Even though the outbreak is seemingly waning with no new cases reported recently, health minister Dr. Ruth Aceng reminded the public to be careful until the 42 days elapse on 11th January 2023.

The latest outbreak, according to Ministry of Health, killed 55 of the 143 people infected since September. Six of the fatalities were health workers.

The declaration followed Uganda's completion of 42 days with no active cases, which represents two full incubation periods of the virus.

The disease that broke out in Mubende last year in September spread to other parts of the country, but efforts from the health ministry managed to stop further spread. Besides Mubende, Kassanda, also located in central Uganda, was one of the districts that registered high numbers of infection.

The director-general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, praised Uganda for its response to the virus.

“Uganda has shown that Ebola can be defeated when the whole system works together, from having an alert system in place, to finding and caring for people affected and their contacts, to gaining the full participation of affected communities in the response,” he said in a statement.