Ebola vaccines may be under way in January. In a report published in Reuters, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday, September 26, 2014, that there are already two Ebola vaccine trials in progress. If everything works out well, they may begin giving the doses by January 2015.
The organization is working closely with two large pharmaceutical companies to help speed up the vaccines that may eventually put a brake on the rapidly worsening Ebola outbreak. These companies include GlaxoSmithKline, which is working on the vaccine in Britain and United States, and NewLink, with trials conducted in Germany and the United States. The latter had already provided WHO with more than 500 vials of the candidate vaccine with a yield of over 1,000 doses.
GlaxoSmithKline, meanwhile, hopes to come up with 10,000 doses around the end of the year. They will also begin their first human clinical trial for Ebola vaccine in Bethesda, Maryland, and in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health. More than 15 people from 18 to 50 years old will serve as subjects. Previously the vaccine was tested on primates, which produced worthy results.
The collected data from these vaccine trials will also be closely monitored and regulated by European Medicines Agency (EMA).
WHO is also considering another vaccine trial from Johnson & Johnson.
Speaking in Geneva, assistant director general Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny emphasized that the potential vaccination early next year will not be a massive campaign considering the limited amount of supplies available.
The decision to use a vaccine may be a complete turnaround, though. In a Bloomberg article written by Makiko Kitamura and Shannon Prettypiece on Friday, it was revealed that Glaxo had already offered their vaccine a couple of months ago. Back then, WHO didn't have any standard procedures or policies on Ebola vaccines and their main agenda was to contain the virus.