The world's first human trial of an experimental vaccine developed against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus has officially begun, marking a significant milestone in global efforts to combat the deadly disease.

According to international media reports, 37-year-old British volunteer Ed Hunt has received the first dose of the vaccine. Developed by researchers at the University of Oxford, the vaccine was created in just eight weeks using the same rapid-response platform technology that was employed to develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The Phase I clinical trial will enroll 50 healthy volunteers aged between 18 and 55 to evaluate the vaccine's safety and assess the immune response it generates. Researchers aim to determine whether the vaccine can safely stimulate protection against the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola before advancing to larger clinical studies.

Speaking after receiving the vaccine, Ed Hunt said he decided to participate in the trial after seeing images and reports of devastating Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He said contributing to research that could help save lives was an opportunity he could not ignore.

Professor Teresa Lambe, who leads Oxford University's vaccine research team, said decades of scientific research enabled the team to develop the vaccine in a remarkably short period. She emphasized that volunteers will not be exposed to the Ebola virus during the trial. Instead, researchers will evaluate the vaccine's safety and its ability to trigger an immune response against the Bundibugyo variant.

Experts say four vaccine candidates targeting the Bundibugyo strain are currently under development worldwide. However, this is the first vaccine to reach the stage of human clinical trials. The Oxford research team also announced that early-stage trials are expected to begin in Uganda in the near future.