The World Health Organization has warned that it may take up to nine months before an Ebola virus vaccine can be effectively used, as the number of deaths and infections in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to climb.
On 20 May 2026, Dr. Wasi Murthy, an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Wednesday that two promising "prototype vaccines" are currently being developed against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus. However, it may take as long as nine months before these vaccines can be deployed as they have yet to undergo clinical trials.
Dr. Murthy's remarks came amid an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and Uganda. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, revealed that there are 600 suspected Ebola cases and 139 suspected deaths.
Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Dr. Ghebreyesus confirmed 51 laboratory-confirmed Ebola cases in DR Congo and 2 in Uganda. He also predicted that the number of cases and deaths would rise further given the time required for virus detection.
Last Sunday, WHO declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), but stated it has not reached the level of a global pandemic.
Dr. Ghebreyesus said that after Tuesday's meeting, the organization's emergency health committee agreed that the situation is not yet a global pandemic emergency. The risk of a worldwide outbreak remains "low," while the risk at regional and national levels is "high."
The 51 confirmed cases in DR Congo are located in Ituri province in the east, the epicenter of the outbreak, and in North Kivu province. The two cases in Uganda were in Kampala; both individuals had traveled from DR Congo, and one has died.
"We know that the scale of the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is much larger," the WHO Director-General said, adding that healthcare workers are among the deceased, which is especially concerning.
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Source:bbc