Ebola Vaccine Will Soon Be Tested In West Africa

Vaccines for Ebola will be tested in West Africa as early as February, the World Health Organization has announced. Two vaccines have passed preliminary safety trials but human testing is required to determine that the treatment will provide protection against the infectious disease. “Testing has been a delicate subject, because the most effective tests involve a comparison group that will not receive an actual vaccine – at least not right away,” writes Richard Harris for NPR. “Some people object to tests like this because they feel [the test population is] being exploited as experimental subjects. The strategies for testing vary in each country: Liberia will test two vaccines in head-to-head trial among 9000 volunteers. Sierra Leone will test one vaccine, focusing on health providers and others at high risk with 6000 volunteers. Guinea will focus on areas with new outbreaks of the disease. Determining the efficiency of the new vaccines may take time because the disease is already on the decline in the three countries. – YaleGlobal