KAMPALA– Uganda’s Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that in the coming weeks, it will start administering Ebola trial vaccines to stop the spread of the deadly viral disease.
Minister of Health Ruth Aceng said in a statement issued here that the ministry will evaluate the efficacy of three trial vaccines, including Oxford from Britain, Sabin, and Merck from the United States.
“The main objective is to evaluate their efficacy to protect primary contacts of Ebola patients within 29 days of contact,” Aceng said.
The ministry plans to vaccinate contacts of 150 confirmed cases initially, she said, adding that the trial preparations have been concluded and the exercise is slated to start within two weeks.
Uganda is currently facing the Sudan strain of Ebola which has no approved vaccines.
The minister said that for now, the best option is to prevent the spread of the hemorrhagic disease, noting that even the available treatment regimens are on trial and not enough.
Aceng said that since the index case was announced on Sept. 20, the country has recorded 109 confirmed cases, of whom 30 have died, 34 have healed and 45 are under treatment.
She said several Ebola Treatment Units are being set up with an initial plan of having 351 beds available for the treatment of confirmed cases, and more beds will be set up in case there is a need. Xinhua