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Ugandan scientists have launched a Shs9.8 billion study to develop a vaccine for the deadly Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF).

The two-year study, which is already underway, is being conducted by researchers from the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and other scientists from Uganda and abroad.

Dr Sheila Nina Balinda, the principal investigator for the study, said they are banking on capacity built during government-funded Covid-19 vaccine research at UVRI to develop a vaccine for CCHF. Currently, there is no vaccine or approved treatment for the viral disease.

"This study will develop a multivalent vaccine for CCHF. The vaccine will target both humans and animals by incorporating multiple antigenic epitopes (a portion of a foreign protein that is capable of stimulating an immune response) from different CCHF virus genotypes circulating in Uganda," she said during the official launch of the study in Entebbe yesterday.

She said the study, among others, requires the use of non-human primates (monkeys) to test the vaccine. Vaccines are first tested on mice and non-human primates for safety and efficacy before being given to people.

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