Ebola Vaccine Tests Latest News 2015: W.H.O. To Test 2 Ebola Vaccines

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has announced that two Ebola vaccines will be tested through its volunteers in West Africa.

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, W.H.O. assistant director general, said in a recent press conference, that the two vaccines – one made by Merck and the other by GlaxoSmithKline – have "undergone the first phase of testing an acceptable safety profile."

She said phase 3 of testing will start at the end of the month or in February in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

"This does not mean we are jumping a step. We will be doing Ebola vaccines phase 3 testing at the same time as second phase testing," Dr. Kieny said, according to a Twitter post by the W.H.O.

She added that research teams are ready and preparations have been made including setting up special fridges for the vaccines.

The third phase of testing – administering the vaccine to health volunteers in affected areas – will begin soon.

A total of 8,289 deaths from Ebola out of the 21,086 cases have been recorded in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to the latest data from the W.H.O.

Kieny said they had a meeting with researchers, regulators, vaccine developers and policy makers and the main goal is to have a "safe effective Ebola vaccine."

"The world is waiting for us to get Ebola vaccines ready and out to the people that need them in their communities," she said.

W.H.O., she added, has been working to bring stakeholders together to support in speeding up the regulatory process for the Ebola vaccines.

She said more potential Ebola vaccines are at different stages of development in Russia, China and the U.S.

Kieny said while 2014 "will be remembered as the year Ebola challenged humanity, 2015 will be remembered as the year humanity used our best scientific minds to fight back Ebola."