The study will assess the immune response and safety of the new vaccine against the Zaire and Sudan species of Ebola.
A planned sample of 26 participants – who must be assessed as healthy and aged 18 to 55 – will all receive one dose of the ChAdOx1 biEBOV vaccine at the University. Following vaccination, participants will be monitored through several visits over a six-month period, with results expected in the second quarter of 2022.
The vaccine is based on the ChAdOx1 virus, a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) that has been genetically modified so that it is impossible for it to replicate in humans. This vector has been previously used successfully in the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine – or the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Professor Teresa Lambe OBE, Associate Professor at the Jenner Institute and Lead Scientific Investigator, University of Oxford, said: ‘The 2014-2016 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa cost more than 11,000 lives and had a catastrophic effect on healthcare systems.