CEPI is providing US$4.17 million to four research projects designed to assess whether vaccines already or previously licensed against Zaire ebolavirus—including Ervebo—could offer protection against Bundibugyo ebolavirus, the virus behind the rapidly escalating outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May 2026. Awardees include research groups led by UCLA (USA); Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp); University of Oxford (UK); and MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (UK).
“There is no licensed vaccine against Bundibugyo virus. CEPI is funding multiple Bundibugyo vaccine candidates to address this gap, but even on the most compressed timelines those vaccines will not be available for the earliest phase of this outbreak”, explains Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI. “However, vaccines do exist for the related Zaire ebolavirus, including Ervebo. Given the recent announcement that Ervebo will be deployed for emergency use against Bundibugyo virus, these CEPI-backed studies will be all the more important to inform on how we can make the best use of the existing vaccine.”
