HEALTH-EBOLA/VACCINES British volunteers trial Ebola vaccine

Record ID: 146913

  • Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/VACCINES British volunteers trial Ebola vaccine
  • Date: 16th July 2015
  • Summary: KENEMA GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL, SIERRA LEONE (FILE - JUNE 25, 2014) (REUTERS) DOCTOR TAKING BLOOD FROM SICK-LOOKING WOMAN AT HOSPITAL EBOLA SCREENING WARD CLOSE OF BLOOD BEING DRAINED INTO VIAL NURSE IN PROTECTIVE GLOVES TENDING TO WOMAN SWEAT ON WOMAN'S FACE BLOOD IN VIAL ON TABLE MONROVIA, LIBERIA (AUGUST 1, 2014)(REUTERS) CLOSE-UP OF WOMAN WASHING HANDS NEXT TO CONTAINER WI
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Liberia
  • Country: Liberia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA79KE7WIZ6TG053BVU66GV578G
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A new Ebola vaccine trial took place on Thursday (July 16) with volunteers in Oxford in west England, trying new "prime-boost" immunisations developed by Bavarian Nordic and Johnson & Johnson, administered by doctors and scientists from Oxford University.
    The EBOVAC2 project is one of two different trial vaccines being tested across Britain, France and Senegal.
    The mid-stage, or Phase II, trials are designed primarily to test the vaccines' safety, but will also assess whether they provoke an immune response against the deadly virus.
    Each vaccine is based on genetically modifying safe viruses to carry just one part of the Ebola virus that will stimulate the body's immune system.
    Researchers stress that none of the shots contains any live Ebola virus.
    The development of the prime-boost and other vaccines was accelerated in response to vast outbreaks of Ebola in West Africa, where at least 11,200 people have died so far in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
    "At the beginning of last year, we had no vaccines available against the Ebola virus and currently there are still no licensed vaccines available. The trials that have happened over the course of the past year have been greatly accelerated," said Dr Malick Gibani, Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University, with day-to-day responsibility for the project.
    Data from the World Health Organization shows there were 30 confirmed cases of Ebola in West Africa in the week to July 5.
    In Liberia, which had been declared Ebola-free in May, a sixth new case was confirmed on Tuesday (July 14) in what health officials fear is a new wave of the outbreak.
    The number of Ebola cases has dropped sharply in recent months, this also presents issues for the team working on a vaccine.
    "In terms of testing it in the field, it might be quite difficult given the number of cases of Ebola have fallen over the last few months," said Gibani.
    The trial of the Bavarian Nordic and J&J prime-boost combination, being trialed by The Oxford Vaccine Group initially aims to recruit more than 600 healthy adult volunteers in Britain and France.
    Bavarian said it hoped to launch another later phase of this trial in Africa later this year involving 1,200 volunteers, but other large clinical trials have recently been thwarted by the drop in case numbers.
    During the trial, volunteers take a blood test, before the vaccine is given in two separate parts. The first part stimulates the body to an initial immune response and the second dose, given a few weeks later, is designed to boost the volunteer's immunity further.
    63 year-old Colin Prickett said he felt compelled to volunteer.
    "It's nice to be able to do something that contributes to the welfare of other people. This vaccine, when developed, will save many lives and it's quite a privilege to be involved in that," he said.
    While the number of Ebola cases has dropped sharply in recent months, researchers said the flare-up in Liberia underlines the need to push ahead with developing potential vaccines that may help control this and future outbreaks.
    "The biggest priority is to make sure we are not in the same situation again and that we're better prepared for the next time we might see something similar to this in the future," said Gibani.
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