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Monday, January 12, 2015

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that two promising Ebola vaccines appear safe and could soon be tested in West Africa, as the agency wrapped up an expert meeting in Geneva earlier today.

The UN health agency has been meeting with researchers, regulators, vaccine developers and policy makers since Thursday, discussing vaccine access and financing, and reviewing the current status of clinical trials and plans for Phase II and Phase III efficacy trials.

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO Assistant Director-General of Health Systems and Innovation, said in a press conference this afternoon in Geneva that so far, the two Ebola vaccines that have already undergone the first phase of testing have an “acceptable safety profile.”

The third phase of testing – which consists of giving the vaccine to healthy volunteers in affected areas – is about to begin. According to a UN spokesperson, research teams have been set up and preparations have been put in place, including special refrigerators for Ebola vaccine tests, in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries hardest hit by the current unprecedented outbreak.