August 29, 2014 - Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, confirmed in an interview that the first human trial of the experimental vaccine that has been developed against Ebola will take place next week (first week of September 2014).
According to Dr. Fauci, the US Food and Drug Administration has thoroughly reviewed the vaccine and has given his institute the approval to move on to test the vaccine on humans.
Furthermore, in an interview with CNN, Dr. Sanjay Gupta confirms that the test will start by giving the vaccine to 3 volunteers. Should there be no reported and examined side-effects, then the test will proceed to a phase where the vaccine will be given to another small group of volunteers aged 18 to 50.
Throughout the test, the volunteers will be monitored closely to see the development of side effects as well as the development of antibodies in their immune system that will combat the virus in the vaccine.
A majority of the test will be performed in America within close monitoring by volunteers from the CDC (Center for Disease Control Prevention). While it may seem ideal to have the test conducted in the most affected countries in West Africa - Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the current medical state of these countries are not able to fully support what the test demands.
Part of the test will be, however, conducted in Nigeria. Aside from Nigeria, healthcare volunteers in Mali, Gambia and the UK are also known to take part in the test.
While everyone is still rooting for the success of the test, reports stating that about a thousand doses had been shipped by the Canadian government to Liberia earlier this month.
The actual success of the test, even during its early stages, will enable the vaccine's manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline to produce 10,000 more doses of the vaccine.
