By Precious Mark
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced on August 20, 2026, that it is providing $4.17 million to four international research consortia.
The funding will evaluate whether existing, licensed Zaire ebolavirus vaccines, such as Ervebo, can generate protective immune responses against Bundibugyo ebolavirus.
This intervention comes in direct response to the rapidly escalating outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in May 2026.
Under the CEPI-backed initiative, research teams will analyze stored blood samples from thousands of individuals who received Zaire ebolavirus vaccines during past immunization campaigns or clinical trials.
The serology studies will characterize vaccine-induced immune responses, evaluate cross-reactivity, establish standardized antibody testing frameworks, and measure the durability of immune responses over time. The resulting data will directly inform vaccine deployment strategies and assist in interpreting upcoming clinical trial results.
This will support decision-making as the WHO Technical Advisory Group on Candidate Vaccine Prioritization (TAG-CVP) recommends evaluating Ervebo in a Phase 3 trial alongside expanded emergency use plans spearheaded by DRC authorities and the Africa CDC.
The $4.17 million allocation is distributed across four lead research institutions. The UCLA Fielding School of Public Health received $2.05 million to study long-running cohorts involving more than 1,700 participants and approximately 1,800 stored serum samples, targeting individuals vaccinated with Ervebo and Ad26.ZEBOV/MVA-BN-Filo (Zabdeno/Mvabea).
Conducted in partnership with the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) in the DRC, the University of Manitoba, the National Microbiology Laboratory of the Public Health Agency of Canada, the University of Texas Medical Branch, and Columbia University, the project leverages established longitudinal cohorts to generate rapid scientific evidence.
Prof. Anne W. Rimoin, Professor of Epidemiology at UCLA, emphasized that utilizing these pre-existing research partnerships prevents public health authorities from starting from zero in a fast-moving crisis.
The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp was awarded $1.02 million for the EBO-BOOST-BRIDGE project in collaboration with the INRB. Drawing from a biobank of more than 600 vaccinated participants from the EBO-BOOST Phase II trial, researchers will conduct cross-protection antibody testing across all Orthoebolavirus species and the Marburg virus, with primary priority given to Bundibugyo ebolavirus.
The grant also covers transferring these diagnostic laboratory methods to the INRB in the DRC to align local capacity with CEPI’s Centralized Laboratory Network, with initial results expected within two to six months.
Principal Investigator Prof. Wim Adriaensen of ITM and Prof. Sabue Mulangu of the INRB noted that the biobank gives international researchers a critical head start in establishing cross-protective immune markers.
The University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, Centre for Human Genetics, and Pandemic Sciences Institute received $975,000 to test blood samples from Ervebo recipients and Zaire ebolavirus disease survivors.
In collaboration with Guinean and Belgian research partners, the study will determine whether naturally acquired or vaccine-induced immunity offers protection against Bundibugyo ebolavirus strains from both the 2007 outbreak and the current 2026 epidemic.
Lead investigator Prof. Miles Carroll highlighted that generating this comparative data is vital to guiding rapid emergency vaccine deployment.
The MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research was awarded $120,000 to analyze samples from the Glasgow Ebola Vaccine study and Ugandan healthcare workers vaccinated during the 2019 outbreak response.
Working alongside the Uganda Virus Research Institute as a sub-awardee, the team will develop specialized diagnostic tests to evaluate antibody recognition of the Bundibugyo virus.
Lead investigator Prof. Brian Willett explained that measuring virus-specific antibodies provides essential surveillance data on transmission dynamics, high-risk populations, and overall cross-protection levels against emerging filoviruses.
Dr. Richard Hatchett, Chief Executive Officer of CEPI, stated on August 20, 2026, that evaluating existing Zaire vaccines is essential to maximizing immediate intervention tools while primary Bundibugyo candidates continue through development pipelines.
Selected through a competitive Call for Proposals published in June 2026, the projects operate under CEPI’s Equitable Access Policy to ensure all findings are published in open-access journals. Funding for CEPI’s Bundibugyo response program is provided through the European Commission’s Horizon Europe 2026 grant, the U.S. Department of State, and CEPI’s core organizational funds.