New Ebola Vaccine Could Take Months as Death Toll Continues to Rise

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could take up to nine months to develop a vaccine for the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola as the outbreak continues to spread across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring Uganda.

WHO officials report more than six hundred suspected Ebola cases and at least one hundred thirty-nine suspected deaths linked to the outbreak. So far, fifty-one cases have been confirmed in the DRC and two in Uganda.

The reason no Bundibugyo vaccine exists, many experts argue, is not scientific failure but political and financial neglect. Africa CDC stated bluntly that had this disease predominantly threatened wealthier regions, medical countermeasures would likely already be available, drawing a parallel to the West African Ebola outbreak, where global urgency only intensified after an American doctor was infected, while thousands of Africans had already died without adequate support.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the situation as deeply concerning, warning that the number of infections is expected to rise as health workers continue detecting new cases.

Health experts say there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo strain, which has a fatality rate of up to fifty percent. Two possible vaccine candidates are being developed, but neither has completed clinical trials.

The outbreak, centered in northeastern Congo near the Ugandan border, has raised fears across the region as cases spread into urban areas and across borders. Health authorities in Uganda say more than one hundred people are currently under quarantine.

Despite declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, the WHO says the situation has not reached pandemic level and the global risk remains low.