World Health Organization to start Ebola vaccine testing in Guinea

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Saturday 07 Mar 2015 - 11:52 Makkah mean time-16-5-1436 World Health Organization, announces start of Ebola vaccine testing in Guinea (Google image ) Geneva, (IINA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Thursday that it will begin conducting Ebola vaccination trials in Guinea this week, UN news centre reported. The WHO noted that in case this vaccination found effective, could be the “game-changer to finally end the epidemic” that has affected nearly 24,000 people, mostly in West Africa. “We have worked hard to reach this point,” WHO Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, said in Geneva. “There has been massive mobilization on the part of the affected countries and all partners to accelerate the development and availability of proven interventions,” she continued. “If a vaccine is found effective, it will be the first preventive tool against Ebola in history.” Based on promising data from initial clinical trials in late 2014, WHO said it will launch a Phase III trial in Guinea on 7 March to test the so-called VSV-EBOV vaccine for efficacy and effectiveness to prevent Ebola in collaboration with the Health Ministry of Guinea, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), Epicentre and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. WHO said the vaccination will take place in areas of Basse Guinée, the region that currently has the highest number of cases in the country. The announcement came as the agency, in its latest update on Ebola, reported 132 new confirmed cases had been reported in West Africa in the week to 1 March, an increase from the previous week of 99 new cases. Assistant Director-General Marie-Paule Kieny, who leads the Ebola Research and Development effort at WHO, said: “An effective vaccine to control current flare-ups could be the game-changer to finally end this epidemic and an insurance policy for any future ones.” SM/IINA