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| WHO Assistant Director-General Marie-Paule Kieny addressing press in Geneva [PHOTO: UNifeed] |
Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) has said that two most promising Ebola vaccines have "an acceptable safety profile" and are soon to be tested in affected areas in West Africa.
Following a two-day high-level meeting in Geneva, the WHO assistant director-general Marie-Paule Kieny announced at a press conference that "the two vaccines that have already undergone the first phase of testing which looks at safety and immunogenicity, so does it induce an immune response, have an acceptable safety profile."
Two vaccines are the chimp adenovirus developed by GlaxoSmithKline, the VSK developed by Merck. Kieny also said that "Johnson and Johnson is to also engage into efficacy testing."
The next phase of testing is to take place on healthy people in West Africa.
Keiny said to trials in Liberia are to "start in end of January, potentially, the Sierra Leone trial is now announced to start in February, and the Guinea trial is also meant to start in February."
According to WHO statistics, there have been in excess of 20 000 confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola Virus as of 7 January, with more than 8000 deaths. -UNifeed