According to the Swiss researchers who are in charge of developing an Ebola vaccine, their clinical testing and trial has been stopped as a precaution after 59 people were vaccinated. The University of Geneva released the report that the vaccine which was made using an animal virus called vesicular stomach virus (VSV), and genetically engineered with a piece of the Ebla virus, that some of the volunteers complained of pains in their hands and feet.
The company developing the vaccine, Merck, is working with NewLink. They said that it is not clear if the pain in their joints was caused by the vaccine. The vaccine trial is done to make sure it is safe for mass production that is why they are cautious.
"We are aware that a Phase I study being conducted by the University Hospitals of Geneva site has been placed on a temporary hold by the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the VSV Ebola Consortium, as a precautionary measure, following the occurrence of transient complaints of joint pain in small number of study volunteers receiving higher dose levels of the vaccine," Merck said in a statement.
"These events have not been reported at any of the other clinical sites," he added.
"We understand the level of vaccine being administered in the trial, which is being conducted at a number of other sites, will proceed using lower doses of the vaccine."
The outbreak started in the far flung areas in West Africa. So far, eight months since it started, there are already more than 17,000 infected people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea while the death toll nearly reached 7,000 according to the latest data released by the World Health Organization.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, released a statement on Thursday its board decided to commit as much as $300 million to buy Ebola vaccines, and spend as much as $90 million to help countries distribute them.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that every vaccine can cause side effects. In fact, joint pain is one of the side effects of many other vaccines.
