Both the Moderna and Oxford / Astra approach rely on mRNA vaccine tech, which proved both safe and effective in COVID-19. For its part, Oxford is today saying it will start animal models shortly, but since Moderna has been working on it since 2023, I am given to understand that their animal models already turned out well — showed no safety signal.

So I think Moderna may already in Phase I/II in humans. That’s about a year ahead of Oxford, if accurate. Either way, it is very good news that the “bigs” are targeting a Bundibugyo species with an mRNA vaccine candidate. This is the wave of the future — for both speed and reliability, in very large scale production. The mRNA approach need not rely on growing up a live virus, in an egg proteins culture, which is — at scale — as hard as making a perfectly rising soufflé. So mRNA just isolates a dead section of the virus genetic code, and replicates it over and over, to cause a human anti-body response, when the purified version is injected. Here’s the Oxford news, in any event:

…Production of an experimental Ebola vaccine from the developers of a Covid-19 shot is expected to begin soon, with animal studies underway as researchers race to bring a much-needed tool to the spiraling outbreak….

Clinical trials for the shot could begin in two to three months, said Teresa Lambe, head of vaccine immunology, at the University of Oxford’s Pandemic Sciences Institute. “We are cautiously optimistic around that timing,” she said at a briefing. Animal studies, which are required for a vaccine to be tested in humans, have begun and more will get underway soon….

The more shots on goal… the better, me thinks! Onward, smiling in the hazy heat here.

नमस्ते