Officials from the World Health
Organisation WHO said that the first round of
clinical trials of a potential Ebola vaccine made
by GlaxoSmithKline may begin next month and
the vaccine could possibly be available by 2015,
MSN News reported on Sunday.
Experimental medicine
According to NBC News, a "level 1 activation"
response has typically been reserved for only
the most dire and pressing emergencies, such
as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or
the bird flu outbreak in 2009. The CDC has
already committed 50 more staff people to fly
to the area of the outbreak over the next month,
and more could follow.
Meanwhile, medical ethicists will meet next
week to discuss who should have access to the
limited supplies of an experimental medicine for
the deadly Ebola virus, the WHO said.
Also read: Did you know? No vaccines for
Ebola!
The drug was given to and benefited Dr. Kent
Brantly and Nancy Writebol, two American aid
workers who contracted the disease in West
Africa. It was the first time the drug was tried
on people, NBC News reported.
The maker of the drug has said it can't produce
large amounts of the experimental medicine,
which means only a limited number of patients
will be able to receive it. There is no certified
vaccine or cure for Ebola.
"We are in an unusual situation in this
outbreak," WHO official Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny
said in a statement, NBC reported. "We need to
ask the medical ethicists to give us guidance on
what the responsible thing to do is."
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