Officials say the first doses of an Ebola vaccine are expected to arrive in West Africa today for trials.
According to CNN, a spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline championed the accomplishment. CNN adds that GlaxoSmithKline, like Merck and NewLink, collaborated on the vaccine with the National Institutes of Health:
Shipping the vaccine today is a major achievement and shows that we remain on track with the accelerated development of our candidate Ebola vaccine, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chairman of global vaccines at GSK said in a company release.
Accompanied by a placebo, the initial shipment will be used in Liberia in the coming weeks. Per CNN, these first tests will take place in Monrovia and incorporate roughly 30,000 people. The first people to receive the vaccine will be health care employees, as they face a great risk of exposure through the transmission of bodily fluids.
Additional vaccines are reportedly being tested in the United States and Russia.
[via CNN]
