January 9, 2015

expert reaction to WHO second high-level meeting on Ebola vaccines access and financing

The World Health Organization has given an update on the current status of the development of vaccines against the Ebola virus.

Prof Jonathan Ball, Professor of Molecular Virology, University of Nottingham, said:

“The increased deployment of resources to fight Ebolavirus in the most affected countries seems to be paying dividends. We should never forget the importance of effective infection prevention and control in stamping out this outbreak, but we are certainly not out of the woods yet. That’s why it is important that these trials are performed. The rate at which vaccines are being progressed through clinical trial is unprecedented and gives some indication of the scale of the problem – and the vaccine juggernaut rightly thunders on.

“There are still lots of unknowns, not least whether or not any or all of the investigational vaccines will work, but plans are clearly afoot to try to answer this crucial question. Perversely, the gains that have already been achieved – through increased availability of treatment centres, contact tracers, educators and burial teams – will make it more tricky, but not impossible, to determine if any of the vaccines work, because fewer people are now contracting and suffering with the virus.

“Clearly the Ebolavirus outbreak is a problem that is happening now, and it needs to be addressed now. But it will be important to ensure that any vaccination programmes don’t adversely impact on the future success of other vaccines under development. Some of the delivery vectors are an integral part of developmental vaccines targeting other serious agents such as TB and malaria, and it will be important that their potential usefulness, in individuals receiving the relevant Ebolavirus vaccines, is not compromised along the way.

“The picture is changing rapidly and there are still many hurdles to overcome, but these are positive steps towards the realisation of an effective Ebolavirus vaccine to help fight the current and any future outbreaks.”

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2015/ebola-vaccine-access/en/

Declared interests

None declared