The World Health Organisation will start large-scale testing of an experimental Ebola vaccine in Guinea on Saturday to see how effective it might be in preventing future outbreaks of the deadly virus.
The West African nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit in the yearlong Ebola outbreak, which has left more than 9,800 people dead. In a statement yesterday, the UN health agency said the vaccine study will focus on Basse Guinee, the region that has Guinea’s most Ebola cases.
The health agency’s vaccination strategy in Guinea aims to create a buffer zone around an Ebola case to prevent its further spread — an approach used to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s. Officials will vaccinate people who have already been exposed to Ebola cases and are at risk of developing the disease.
The vaccine being tested — VSV-EBOV — was developed by Canada and is now licensed to Merck. A second vaccine — one developed by US National Institutes of Health and GlaxoSmithKline — will be tested in a separate study as supplies become available. The Guinea trial is being conducted with other health partners including Doctors Without Borders, Epicentre.
