The first trials of vaccines against the Ebola virus have started in Liberia, one of the countries hardest hit by the epidemic in West Africa along with Sierra Leone and Guinea. Liberia already has 3,700 fatalities and 9,000 registered cases.
The two experimental vaccines were developed by the British laboratory GlaxoSmithKline with the American Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases for one, and by the Canadian public health agency including the American laboratory Merck, for the other.
This is the first time that these vaccines have been tested on a large scale. The results previously conducted in Africa, Europe and the United States on small panels of animals and humans have been conclusive.
In Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, we want to move up a gear by targeting a vaccination target of 27,000 people over 18 years of age. So far, only a handful of healthy volunteers have started to be injected with these vaccines in the small Redemption hospital in Monrovia. 12 people benefit every day from the vaccination campaign in this hospital. When the milestone of 600 vaccinations is reached, the vaccination test campaign should be extended to other hospitals in the country.
In Liberia and Sierra Leone, there is currently a slowing of the number of infections by the Ebola virus. This reassuring news suggests that the epidemic is heading towards its outcome. But the United Nations remains cautious and insists that the contagion is not yet under control. “This drop [des cas] is real but does not mean that the fight is over, “hammered Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson for the UN agency in Geneva.
Concern persists especially around the imminent arrival of the rainy season, which could complicate interventions on the ground.
The death toll of Ebola has exceeded 8,000 since the start of the epidemic in March 2014, mainly in West Africa.
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