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New Ebola vaccine developed, found to be highly effective

The vaccine is manufactured by Merck

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A vaccine that claims to give high protection against the deadly Ebola virus has been developed. The virus so far has infected over 28,000 persons and killed over 11,000 in Africa.

In a trial conducted in 2015 in Guinea, it was found that in a cohort of 11,841 persons, the vaccine was highly effective.

The cohort was divided into 5,837 persons that received the Ebola vaccine, and those that didn't. Ten days or more later, no Ebola cases were recorded in the group. In the group that did not receive the vaccine, 23 cases of Ebola were recorded.

The trial started in 2015, in the coastal region of Basse-Guinée, that was experiencing new Ebola cases back then. In the ring-vaccination approach, when a new Ebola case was diagnosed, the research team traced all people who may have been in contact with that case within the previous 3 weeks, such as people who lived in the same household, were visited by the patient, or were in close contact with the patient, their clothes or linen, as well as certain "contacts of contacts". A total of 117 clusters (or 'rings') were identified, each made up of an average of 80 people.

Initially, rings were randomised to receive the vaccine either immediately or after a 3-week delay, and only adults over 18 years were offered the vaccine. After interim results were published showing the vaccine's efficacy, all rings were offered the vaccine immediately, and the trial was also opened to children older than 6 years.

"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 Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless," said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, World Health Organization's Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, and the study's lead author.

The vaccine is manufactured by Merck. Three lakh doses of the vaccine will be available in cases of an emergency outbreak at any given point.

Fifty per cent of those who were given the vaccine, reported headache, fatigue, and muscle pain, but recovered within days without long-term effects. Three diverse events — a febrile reaction, an anaphylaxis and one flu-like illness were also picked up. All three have recovered.

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