On 1 October, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva convened over 70 experts in pharmacology and health sectors to evaluate the status of work, test and eventually license two candidate Ebola vaccines.
The purpose of the meeting is to accomplish within a matter of few months the work that would normally take two to four years, without compromising safety and efficacy. According with a WHO’s press release, “Nothing must be allowed to slow down the goal of making vaccines accessible to people in affected West African countries.”
There are two promising candidate vaccines in phase 1 clinical trials, which are being conducted in healthy human volunteers. The trials are designed to test safety and immunogenicity; plus find the appropriate dose.
The first vaccine, cAd3-ZEBOV uses a chimpanzee-derived adenovirus vector with an Ebola virus gene inserted. It has been developed by GlaxoSmithKline in collaboration with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The second vaccine, rVSV-ZEBOV uses an attenuated or weakened vesicular stomatitis virus — a pathogen found in livestock – and which one of its genes was replaced by an Ebola virus gene. This vaccine was developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the license for commercialization is held by the American company NewLink.
WHO estimates that a significant number of doses of both vaccines will be available until the first quarter of 2015. In order to meet this projection, the test results in affected areas should be ready by February next year.
Among the subjects that experts agreed need to be urgently addressed included having the personal who can conduct trials that meet international standards, also logistical issues (such as cold chain needs for the vaccines), and the resources needed to start the studies as fast as possible.
Who has solicited to its major international funding partners to promptly pledge or commit the necessary capital, so that this critical research is completed without further delay. In this regard the government of Canada has already donated 800 vials of rVSV-ZEBOV to WHO, which can translate into about 1500 to 2000 doses of vaccine.
According to WHO, health workers in Africa countries include doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians but also hospital cleaners, ambulance drivers, burial teams, mortuary attendants, and in some instances, traditional healers. This people, who are particularly at very high risk of infection, will be considered when priorities for support – i.e. these vaccines – are being set.
The problem of treating Ebola is complicated by gaps in the concerned countries’ health systems, which undermine the citizens’ confidence in their institutions and health policies. Therefore, many patients are cared at home by family members or other members from their community, exposing them to contagion. Also, some cultures are deeply distrustful of “Western” medicine and foreign medical staff in general, and of vaccines in particular. For this reasons Who explains the importance of communicating with the communities and engaging their views.
Through: Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas (SINC) / Information and Scientific News Service
