The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has explained why the continent has yet to find a vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola disease.
The Director General of the Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, who made the disclosure during the week while speaking with Channels Television, said some partners consider Ebola an African issue, adding that “if this outbreak was in Western countries, vaccines would already be available”.
He, however, said that the agency had initiated clinical trials of new vaccines, including a new Bundibugyo vaccine manufactured in Egypt.
Kaseya also noted that the agency had worked with the DRC and Uganda to bring the Zaire vaccine for clinical trials and compassionate use.
“We don’t want to see Africa left behind again. We have the knowledge. We have people with intelligence,” he said. “We have capacity to manufacture vaccines; we need to move on. This is also the case for medicine and diagnostics.”
The Federal Government on Tuesday confirmed a case of the Ebola virus in the Federal Capital Territory, saying that the patient’s symptoms progressed four days after she arrived from Uganda, though the Ugandan authorities said there was no outbreak of the disease in the East African country.
