On Thursday, the National Institutes of Health declared that they will be getting a clinical trial underway to determine the safety of the vaccine developed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in cooperation with the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. The human trials will begin on Tuesday and will include 20 healthy subjects who have volunteered to take part in a test that will determine if the vaccines are safe to use and if they will be able to trigger the appropriate immune response that will help fight the Ebola virus. This will be the first case of clinical trials for this vaccine in response to the "public health emergency that demands an all-hands-on-deck response" in west Africa.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said that, although scientists have yet to discover a treatment for the Ebola virus, they are hoping that these vaccines could be the preventive measures they are hoping for. If successful, the vaccines will prevent the Ebola virus disease from developing in the volunteers that take part in the test. Nevertheless, Dr. Fauci cautioned that there are no guarantees that the vaccines will work, saying that, "I have been fooled enough in my many years of experience." He added that favorable results may not be produced during this initial testing and that, at the moment, the best ways to limit the outbreak is to reinforce public health measures such as isolation, quarantine, infection control, and the use of protective devices.
Since the outbreak, there has been over 240 health workers that have been exposed and infected with the Ebola virus, and more than 50% of them have died. If the vaccine works, it's main targets will be health workers that have taken on the task of dealing with the virus on a daily basis. Additionally, residents within the affected areas may also be eligible to receive the drug. The vaccine is intended to be administered once in the arm for immediate threat-protection, and then a second shot given eventually to ensure long-term immunity.
