Canada's Minister of Health, the Hon. Rona Ambrose, announced today that the government of Canada is going to be donating between 800 to 1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization. The amount of doses that they are providing will be based on the required amount for clinical trials and applied research. Canada health officials are also keeping a reservoir of the experimental vaccine in the unlikely event that there should be a need for it's compassionate use within the country. Government leaders in the country said that this is one step in fulfilling its role, as an international coordinating body, towards helping all the affected people in West Africa who are going through one of the most devastating and virulent outbreaks in history. The WHO will be facilitating the distribution of the vaccine once it has been transported to the recipient countries.
The scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory developed the VSV-EBOV vaccine, and all of the intellectual rights to the product are owned by the Government of Canada. As yet, this vaccine has not reached its human trial phase, but the formulation has shown very promising results during animal research. Following the World Health Organization's decision to allow the use of experimental drugs, the Canadian government has also issued additional rights to the manufacturer, BioProtection Systems to conduct further testing that will refine the product for human use. Officials say that, although the results of this vaccine was promising during the experimental phase, there is still a greater need for faster diagnosis, good infection control, and seamless coordination among the Health workers that are involved in responding to the outbreak.
In addition to donating vaccines, the Canadian Minister also announced that it is pledging $185,000 to the WHO as a show their support. They intend it for the money to be directed towards the prevention and control of the infection, improving disease surveillance, and augmenting the outbreak response capacity in the affected regions.
