Trials led by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in New Guinea had an experimental vaccine given to people who had been in contact with patients who had recently contracted the virus.
Ebola VIrus
The results were published in The Lancet medical journal, showing vaccine efficacy of 100%. The trial included more than 11,000 people, with 5,837 people being given the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine. None of the people given the vaccine contacted Ebola ten or more days later. Among those who were not immediately vaccinated, there were 23 cases of Ebola.
The trials involved a ring-vaccination technique which has researchers notifying friends, family, caregivers and neighbours of the Ebola victim. Around half of the circle of people notifed by the researchers were then offered the vaccine. John-Arne Rottingen of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and who was involved in implementing the trial, told CNN: “The premise is that by vaccinating all people who have come into contact with an infected person, you create a protective 'ring' and stop the virus from spreading further."
Ebola was first discovered in 1976, hitting small African villages but generally being contained by medical teams. In 2014 however Ebola reached African cities, spreading rapidly and killing over 11,000 people.
Whilst the vaccine is good news for helping to combat the virus, it isn’t effective against all strains of the disease. The vaccine only works against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus but does not protect against the other strains of the virus.
However, because the vaccine has proved so effective, it is being fast-tracked for regulatory approval.
The vaccine is licensed to pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck, which has made 300,000 doses available for use if Ebola strikes.
Marie-Paule Keiny, the study’s lead author and theWHO’s assistant director-general for health systems and innovation said: “While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless. The world can’t afford the confusion and human disaster that came with the last epidemic.”