At Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by the number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 million doses), an emergency response framework has been activated in partnership with University of Oxford and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) following the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak.

“The moment we received word of the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, we activated our emergency response framework in partnership with the University of Oxford and CEPI. Oxford’s master viral seed will allow us to rapidly inoculate our cell bank and begin producing vaccine doses in record time. We are looking at a 20 to 30 day window,” an SII spokesperson said.

SII is expecting the Bundibugyo strain within a week. According to the SII spokesperson they have always believed that “our manufacturing capabilities exist not just for commerce, but for global health security. “This is exactly the kind of agility India’s biopharmaceutical sector brings to the world. The ChAdOx1 vector platform is well understood by our teams and we are fully prepared to scale,” an SII spokesperson said.

Vaccines manufactured by SII are accredited by the World Health Organisation, Geneva and used in around 170 countries across the world in their national immunisation programmes. At a virtual media briefing on the Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda, WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that beyond the confirmed cases, there were almost 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths.

It is important for healthcare facilities to be aware of the evolving situation elsewhere and be prepared to diagnose, isolate and treat any cases that occur, according to Dr Rajeev Jayadevan, top expert and convenor of the research cell of Kerala, Indian Medical Association. “A disease such as Ebola requires close contact to spread, as can occur in some healthcare or household settings. It does not spread quickly through the air like Covid-19 or Influenza and there is no need for the general public to be anxious,” Dr Jayadevan said.

Viruses such as those causing Rabies, Nipah and Ebola are zoonotic in nature — which means they jump from animals to man through close interactions. “Ebola virus naturally circulates in bats, monkeys and apes. It jumps to man typically following hunting and slaughtering bushmeat from African forests. It can spread from human to human through close contact,” he said.

The current outbreak is caused by a less common type of Ebola virus called the Bundibugyo virus that’s harder to test and prevent than the more familiar Zaire virus.