Results are in from an early-stage clinical trial of an experiemental Ebola vaccine, and they are positive.
The vaccine, called VSV-ZEBOV, was shown to be safe and elicited robust antibody responses in all 40 of the healthy adults who received it, according to the National Institutes of Health. The most common side effects were injection site pain and transient fever that appeared and resolved within 12 to 36 hours after vaccination.
“The ongoing Ebola ongoing outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in scope and duration,” said Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH. “The outbreak is slowly coming under control, thanks to extraordinary and multi-faceted efforts in the affected nations. However, there still are no licensed specific therapies or vaccines for Ebola. Until a safe and effective vaccine is available, the world will continue to be under-prepared for the next Ebola outbreak.”
The clinical trial was conducted at the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.