The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that a vaccine for Ebola virus has shown to be 100 percent effective in preventing the spread of outbreak, based on the trials conducted in Guinea, reports stated.
The new vaccine called VSV-EBOV is developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed to Merck and NewLink.
According to The Washington Post, the vaccine does not have live Ebola virus as its component, but rather a different kind of virus that is "alive and replicating" and has been engineered to replace one of its genes with that of an Ebola virus gene.
As a result, the immune system responds well to the Ebola virus, making it effective to fight against infection.
The results, which appeared in The Lancet, from the trials involving over 4,000 participants showed that the vaccine can elicit a 100 percent effective response, that none of the participants developed the infection between six and ten days — the considered timeframe for immunity development.
According to a WHO statement, the trials for the vaccine began in Guinea last March and it showed promise that experts decided to give the vaccine to all those who face a high risk of developing the infection after contact with an Ebola patient.
CNN reported that the trial in Guinea is being carried out by the Guinean authorities, together with WHO, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Doctors Without Borders, and support coming from various national and international organizations.
In an interview, Dr. Bertrand Draguez, who leads the Doctors Without Borders, said that the preliminary results from the trials indicate that the vaccine can protect against the deadly Ebola.
He added that even though the sample size may be "quite small" and there is a need for further analysis and research, Ebola is still a public health emergency that calls for the immediate use of the vaccine to protect people at risk of infection.
