WHO approves clinical trials on two new Ebola vaccines

The World Health Organization on Wednesday approved clinical trials for two new Ebola vaccines, as doctors fight to control an outbreak in Africa that has killed more than 5,300 people.

"Last month, a vaccine trial began using the Ervebo vaccine, which is approved for Ebola virus, but not for Bundibugyo virus" ravaging the Democratic Republic of Congo, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

"Today, WHO expert groups are recommending adding two vaccine candidates to the trial" he added.

Those two - ChAdOx1 BDBV, developed by the University of Oxford with the Serum Institute of India, and Moderna's mRNA-1469 -- were developed specifically for the Bundibugyo virus, he explained.

The DRC's National Institute for Biomedical Research is leading the trial, backed by partners including WHO, said Tedros.

"Vaccines are powerful tools, but they are not substitutes for the proven measures that can save lives now: early care, contact tracing, isolation, safe and dignified burials and trusted engagement with communities," he added.

On Monday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Africa's ongoing Ebola epidemic had killed more than 5,300 people, the vast majority of them in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A total of 10,444 cases have been confirmed, with a fatality rate of more than 50 percent, it added.