The first batch of GlaxoSmithKline's experimental Ebola vaccine has been shipped to Liberia and has arrived on Friday. Health care workers and others who are at high risk from the potentially deadly virus could be given experimental vaccines this week in order to protect them from Ebola.
The World Health Organization announced on Thursday as reported by Reuters that the infection rate of Ebola has declined since its outbreak last year. However, they are still recommending people to stay cautious because it might mutate into a more serious strain. Up to date, there are 21,724 cases reported in nine countries. About 8,641 people have died.
The vaccine was developed using the Ebola strain found in chimpanzees. The potential vaccine was developed with extraordinary speed in order to be used immediately in the aim of everyone to curb the virus.
GSK conducted trials of the vaccines among volunteers in Europe and United States and have shown that it is safe and has a positive response from the immune system. About 30,000 people will be vaccinated but only one-third will get the Ebola vaccine while others will be given routine vaccines for other illnesses.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chairman of global vaccines at GSK, said, "The initial phase I data we have seen are encouraging and give us confidence to progress to the next phases of clinical testing, which will involve the vaccination of thousands of volunteers, including front line healthcare workers. If the candidate vaccine is able to protect these people, as we hope it will, it could significantly contribute to efforts to bring this epidemic under control and prevent future outbreaks."
Approximately 30 bottles of the vaccine have arrived in West Africa. The vaccine utilizes a type of chimpanzee cold virus to deliver safe genetic material from the Zaire strain of Ebola, the strain responsible for the outbreak in West Africa.