SAN FRANCISCO, December 23, (THEWILL) – The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that an experimental Ebola vaccine has been found to be highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea.
The UN health agency revealing the results of the latest trial, which it published on Friday, in the medical journal, The Lancet, declared that the vaccine, ‘rVSV-ZEBOV’, was studied in a trial involving 11,841 people in Guinea during 2015.
It said among the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination.
In comparison, there were 23 cases in 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine.
“The vaccine is the first to prevent infection from one of the most lethal known pathogens, and the findings add weight to early trial results published last year,” WHO said.
The report also quoted the study’s lead author, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, as saying the result was “defensive” against future Ebola outbreaks.
“While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless,” Kieny said.
Dr KeÏta Sakoba, the Coordinator of the Ebola Response and Director of Guinea’s National Agency for Health Security, also noted the significance of the latest results.
“We are proud that we have been able to contribute to developing a vaccine that will prevent other nations from enduring what we endured,” Sakoba said.
“It employed an innovative design, a so-called `ring vaccination’ approach – the same method used to eradicate small pox.
“This involved tracing all people who may have been in contact with a new Ebola case within the previous three weeks as well as certain contacts of contacts.
“In addition to showing high efficacy among those vaccinated, the trial also shows that unvaccinated people in the rings were indirectly protected from Ebola virus through the ring vaccination approach.”
Story by Oputah david
