as a potential game changer in the fight
against Ebola. Known as rVSV-ZEBOV, the
vaccine has been fast-tracked for regulatory
approval after a major trial found it
safely provides 100 percent protection
against a common strain of the deadly
virus, which broke out in December 2013
and spread across West Africa, claiming
more than 11,000 lives. The vaccine was
tested in Guinea and Sierra Leone, two
countries that were heavily affected by
the Ebola epidemic. Researchers based
the trial on the same strategy that eradicated
smallpox—an approach known as
ring vaccination. They included anyone
who’d had direct or indirect contact with
someone diagnosed with the Ebola
virus, identifying 117 such “rings,” each
involving an average of 80 people at
risk for the infection. No Ebola cases
were reported among the 5,837 people
who were immediately vaccinated, but
23 instances occurred among another
group of 4,507 people who were not
vaccinated or received a delayed vaccination,
The Guardian (U.K.) reports. “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 defenseless,” says lead author
Marie-Paule Kieny of the World Health
Organization. Merck, which manufactures
the vaccine, is expected to seek Food and
Drug Administration approval next year
and is now amassing a 300,000-dose
emergency stockpile.