Ebola is spread through bodily fluids, with common symptoms being fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhoea, and combatted through time-honoured ways of tracing, containing and quarantining. Outbreaks are difficult to contain, especially in urban environments.
Merck said it expects to provide about 50,000 doses to IAVI by the end of 2022 and is working with the organization towards a formal agreement.
The government has introduced a three-week lockdown around the Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicentre of the outbreak of the Sudan variant of the Ebola virus.
There have been 60 confirmed and 20 probable cases since the outbreak began last month, and 44 deaths, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
The vaccine is based on the ChAdOx1 virus, a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) genetically modified to not replicate in humans.
There are currently no proven vaccines or treatments for the Sudan species of Ebola, one of four known Ebola viruses to cause hemorrhagic fever in humans.
The measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease will be introduced immediately in Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicentre of the epidemic, he said in a televised national address.
Alex Freeman, the Head of the WHO Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC), told that Uganda is currently battling to contain the spread of the Sudan strain of Ebola virus (SUDV) that has no ready vaccine.
"The Ministry of Health Rapid Response Teams remain on ground to list and follow up contacts to the confirmed cases," it said, urging increased vigilance.
Existing vaccines against Ebola have proved effective against the Zaire strain but it is not clear if they will be as successful against the Sudan strain, according to WHO in an earlier statement.
We are very concerned about the Ebola outbreak in Uganda because we share the border. We have a lot of movement across the border, our families are in Uganda and Ugandans are on this side," Majur told journalists here on Tuesday.
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