Ebola Vaccine Soon-To-Be Licensed

The Ebola outbreak was first reported in West Africa in the March of 2014, and has become one of the deadliest occurrences of the disease since it was just discovered in 1976. As of January 13, 2016, there has been 11,3015 recorded deaths due to Ebola globally, the majority of them in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

No cures have been discovered as of late, but the good news is that a vaccine will be released soon.

The vaccine was developed by pharmaceutical company Merck, and The Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, has signed a 5-million-dollar deal for this particular vaccine. The deal has Merck prepare 300,000 vaccines to be used for emergencies and further clinical trials. An application will also be submitted to have the vaccine be licensed by the end of 2017.

The development of the vaccine combines a small portion of the Ebola virus with another safer virus to train the immune system to beat Ebola. Many clinical trials were conducted, including one in Guinea where the friends, neighbors and family of an Ebola patient were vaccinated.

Early trials in West Africa has shown that this vaccine might give 100% protection, although this number might change because further trials are still being conducted. The World Health Organization said that this could be a “game-changer”. Professor John Edmunds from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine helped design the trials and stated that that “This is very good news, there are significant results, the epidemic is not over and this shows we have another potential weapon…The trial is still continuing, these are interim results which need confirming, but there’s now light at the end of the tunnel.”