Ebola vaccine

According to World Health Organization (WHO) Ebola vaccine testing will start in January in West Africa on a batch of more than 20.000 frontline health care workers. Although it may seem good news there is a big BUT involved.

Dr Marie Paule Kieny, WHO assistant director exposes the Organization’s main concerns 

“there is still a possibility that it [a vaccine] will fail”.

In parallel to the Ebola vaccine a blood serum is being developed based on Ebola survivors’ antibodies. 

“There are partnerships which are starting to be put in place to have capacity in the three countries to safely extract plasma and make preparation that can be used for the treatment of infective patients. The partnership which is moving the quickest will be in Liberia where we hope that in the coming weeks there will be facilities set up to collect the blood, treat the blood and be able to process it for use” Dr. Kieny declared.

Nevertheless even if the vaccine proves effective it appears that IT alone will not be enough to stop the outbreak. According to the latest news more than 4,500 people were killed by Ebola in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone since the fatal disease first stroke 10 months ago. Experts estimate that in the next two months 10.000 new cases a week could appear worldwide if protective measures are not properly implemented.