The first candidate vaccines against the Sudan strain of Ebola affecting Uganda arrived near the capital Kampala on Thursday.
Last week, the last patient was discharged from the hospital, which raises hopes for the end of the epidemic of deadly hemorrhagic fever declared on September 20 in this country, said the Minister of Health.
“We are now nine days away from the countdown. This does not mean that we will not have another case (of Ebola). Uganda is a country that always wants to be prepared and ready whenever an epidemic breaks out pointed out Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng.
At a vaccine reception ceremony in Entebbe, about 45 km (28 miles) south of the capital Kampala, Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng said the 1,200 doses that had arrived were from the Institute Sabin vaccine.
There is currently no licensed vaccine for the Sudanese strain of the virus causing infections in Uganda and this trial aims to determine if any of the three candidate vaccines, or all three, are effective in combating the strain.
The WHO had said it would send three vaccine candidates to Uganda to be used in a trial, one by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, another by the Sabin Vaccine Institute and a third by Merck & Co Inc (MRK.N).
At the end of the 42-day incubation period, on January 10, if no cases occur, Uganda will be declared free of Ebola. The East African country has had seven Ebola outbreaks so far.