Health Canada authorizes Moderna clinical trial for new Ebola vaccine candidate

A spokesperson for Moderna says the first volunteer in the trial received the shot on Monday in Truro, N.S., and that the company expects to enrol 80 people in Truro, Halifax and Toronto.

The Phase 1 trial will evaluate the vaccine’s safety, determine the right dosage, monitor for side effects and study the antibody response.

Health Canada said in a release issued Tuesday that the department authorized the clinical trial on July 30.

The United Kingdom has also started a clinical trial for a Bundibugyo virus vaccine, made by the University of Oxford.

Health Canada said Moderna would need to do Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials to determine the vaccine’s effectiveness before it could seek authorization for wider use.

“Any final submission would need to meet Health Canada’s stringent safety, efficacy and quality standards before the vaccine could be allowed on the Canadian market,” the department’s news release said.

Ebola is spread through unprotected contact with the bodily fluids of people sick with the virus or who have died from it. Ebola is a filovirus, which can cause severe hemorrhagic fever.

Moderna’s executive director of global health security and R&D partnerships said Canada was chosen for the first clinical trial “based on Moderna’s experience conducting early-phase trials there, Health Canada’s regulatory oversight, and the country’s long-standing contributions to filovirus research.”

“Canadian researchers and participants are contributing an important first step in a broader international effort to develop a vaccine against a form of Ebola for which no approved protection is currently available,” Hamilton Bennett said in an emailed statement.

The Bundibugyo form of Ebola was first declared an outbreak on May 15 and has spread in Congo and neighbouring Uganda. The World Health Organization has deemed it a public health emergency of international concern.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 4, 2026.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Nicole Ireland, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Health Canada authorizes Moderna clinical trial for new Ebola vaccine candidate

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