Ebola Bundibugyo Vaccines in Development Four Months Before Outbreak

An Ebola outbreak in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was confirmed by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on May 15, 2026. Through laboratory analysis, health officials confirmed that the outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo ebola strain, for which there is no vaccine currently available but has generated the fast track development of a vaccine to market.¹

On May 16, the DRC’s Ministry of Health reported 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths, warning that the outbreak has since crossed into Uganda, where at least one confirmed death has been reported in a traveler from DRC. On May 17, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the situation a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO’s highest level of global health alert.²

Just four months before the public health emergency declaration, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), co-founded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced in January 2026 that it had awarded Moderna, Inc. and the University of Oxford a $26.7 million contract to begin developing Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV) mRNA and viral vector vaccine candidates. The new mRNA vaccine would specifically target the exact Ebola strain that four months later would be declared the one driving the current outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.³

A Jan. 8, 2026 press release published on CEPI’s website stated, “Scientists at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with partners, will spearhead the development of new vaccines that aim to provide comprehensive protection against multiple lethal filoviruses, including Ebola virus, Sudan virus, Bundibugyo virus, and Marburg virus.”³

Ebola is part of a group of highly lethal, single-stranded RNA zoonotic viruses called filoviruses characterized by severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The fatality rate hovers around 50 percent, with rates varying from 25 percent to 90 percent in previous outbreaks.

There are two treatments currently approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat Ebola virus disease caused by the most common strain infecting children and adults, species Zaire ebolavirus.  The first approved treatment, Inmazeb, is a combination of three monoclonal antibodies and the second, Ebanga, is a human monoclonal antibody.^{4 5 6}

No Licensed Ebola Vaccines Targeting Bundibugyo Strain

In December 2019, the FDA approved the first and only licensed Ebola vaccine, developed by Merck and marketed under the brand name Ervebo (rVSVΔG-ZEBOV-GP), for use in people 18 and older. Ervebo was designed to target the Zaire ebolavirus species, the most common and deadliest Ebola species, but not the Bundibugyo strain driving the ongoing outbreak in the DRC and Uganda.^{2 5}

Vasee Moorthy, MD, PhD, WHO Senior Adviser on Research and Development, said during a news conference that neither of the two potential vaccine candidates currently in development are ready for human testing. “It will depend on the animal data as to whether that is considered a promising candidate vaccine for Bundibugyo,” he said.⁷

As the current Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak has surpassed 245 deaths in the DRC and Uganda, New-York-based humanitarian aid organization the International Rescue Committee (IRC) warns this may become the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, outpacing the 2018-2020 outbreak in the DRC which claimed the lives of 2,290 people.²

NBC News reported that “the timeline has pushed health officials to consider other options, including Merck’s Ebola vaccine, called Ervebo,” even though the CDC states on its website that Ervebo is indicated for preventing the Zaire species of Ebola only.^{7 8}

“There is currently no Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-licensed or authorized vaccine to protect against Bundibugyo virus infection,” the CDC says on its website. “The Ebola vaccine licensed in the United States (Ervebo®) is indicated for preventing Ebola disease due to a different species of Ebola virus (species Orthoebolavirus zairense) only, and based on studies in animals, this vaccine is not expected to protect against Bundibugyo virus or other orthoebolaviruses.”⁸

Ervebo Vaccine May Spread Vaccine-Strain Ebolavirus Through Shedding

The Ervebo prescribing information additionally notes the vaccine has the potential to infect others with vaccine-strain Ebolavirus through virus shedding. As the package insert states:

Transmission of vaccine virus is a theoretical possibility. Vaccine virus RNA has been detected in blood, saliva, or urine for up to 14 days after vaccination. The duration of shedding is not known; however, samples taken 28 days after vaccination tested negative. Vaccine virus RNA has been detected in fluid from skin vesicles that appeared after vaccination.⁸

Epidemiologist Questions Outbreak Timing, WHO Emergency Declaration, and Ebola Vaccine Development

Epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher, writing on Substack, criticized the WHO and the timing of CEPI having already funded vaccine development for the specific strain behind the current outbreak prior to the outbreak development. Hulscher writes:

The same playbook always repeats: Develop ‘vaccine’ → Fearmonger new outbreak → Declare emergency → Gain power & control → push ‘vaccine’ as only solution.¹⁰

This marks the 17th Ebola outbreak recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the virus was first identified there in 1976 — and the third known outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain since it was first identified in 2007,” he continues. Across Africa, there have been dozens of Ebola outbreaks over the last 50 years. Every previous Ebola outbreak has been successfully contained to the affected region without becoming a global pandemic. Why? Because Ebola — including the Bundibugyo strain — spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from symptomatic individuals, not through the air or casual contact. There is simply no biological basis for this to become a worldwide pandemic. So why the rapid escalation to a full Public Health Emergency of International Concern at this moment?¹⁰

Hulscher connected the current outbreak response to what he described as an insufficient public response to hantavirus, and to U.S. withdrawal from the WHO. “It also appears that the botched hantavirus situation didn’t yield the level of perceived fear they were hoping for. With America’s exit [from the WHO], Bill Gates is now the WHO’s top funder. Thus, nothing the WHO says or does should be accepted at face value.”¹⁰

CDC: Ongoing Risk to American Public Remains Low

Public health officials and researchers have documented that every previous Ebola outbreak was contained through core public health measures, none of which required a vaccine. These included: contact tracing and isolation of symptomatic individuals, infection prevention and control (IPC) protocols in healthcare settings, appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), safe burial practices (as Ebola remains transmissible posthumously through contact with the body and bodily fluids of the deceased), and community engagement to limit contact with symptomatic individuals and the deceased. Because Ebola transmission requires direct contact with the bodily fluids of a symptomatic individual, proper hygiene and established containment protocols have historically been sufficient to end outbreaks in the absence of a strain-specific vaccine.⁸

On May 18, 2026, the CDC and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced enhanced travel screening, entry restrictions, and public health measures to prevent Ebola virus disease from entering the United States amid the ongoing outbreaks in the DRC and Uganda. The CDC states the ongoing risk to the American public is low.¹¹

​​According to Hulscher:

We must not give in to their extortion tactics designed to pressure America into rejoining and becoming trapped under sweeping powers of surveillance, vaccine passports, and mandates.¹⁰

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