At the same time, we are working with our global partners to accelerate the generation of supportive preclinical data for the clinical development and testing of the ChAdOx1 BDBV vaccine in outbreak scenarios, all whilst continuing to follow established scientific, ethical, and regulatory standards.
For more than 30 years, researchers at OVG, in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Oxford, have worked on the development and testing of vaccines against infectious diseases. In response to the 2013–2016 West African Ebola outbreak, OVG and the Jenner Institute led a number of clinical trials testing vaccines against Ebolavirus, including an expedited Phase II clinical trial of an adenovirus/MVA Ebola vaccine regimen, contributing to its approval by the European Medicines Agency in 2020.
The research team embedded in these trials have continued developing vaccines against multiple filoviruses, including Sudan Ebolavirus and Marburg virus. During outbreaks in Uganda, Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania between 2022 and 2025, vaccines designed and tested by Professor Teresa Lambe and her team based in OVG and the Pandemic Sciences Institute were selected by the World Health Organization for inclusion in ring vaccination trials, should they have been needed.
The ChAdOx platform, a type of viral-vector vaccine, has previously demonstrated a vital role in the development of vaccines for emerging infectious diseases and responding to outbreak scenarios. This platform underpinned the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which was estimated to have saved more than 6 million lives in its first year of use globally.
This long-standing work and existing expertise are critical in enabling a rapid response during public health emergencies.
Professor Teresa Lambe OBE, Calleva Head of Vaccine Immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group and Pandemic Sciences Institute said:
“My hope is that this outbreak can be brought under control quickly and that vaccines are ultimately not needed. Nevertheless, our team and partners will continue working to ensure that potential vaccine options are available if they are needed.
The ability to move rapidly in situations like this has been built on many years of vaccine research and close collaboration with our global partners.”