Russian health minister Veronika Skvortsova declared that the country developed the only Ebola virus vaccine that passed all stages of clinical tests so far. She added that Russian scientists will share their results and cooperate with western labs.
According to RT, the Russian official headed country's health ministry since the year 2012. After the presentation of the vaccine to the World Health Organization (WHO), Skvortsova gave a declaration to RT in Geneva.
The Russian health official announced that Russian scientists have received an endorsement from the WHO. The health organization will supervise Russian vaccine field trials. Skvortsova also declared that she hopes that Russia will have a joint program with WHO on the distribution of the serum by the end of the year.
The Ebola epidemic broke out in the year 2014 and the West African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been the hardest hit. According to Managed Care, since December 2013 the Ebola outbreak has killed more than 11,300 people.
Leading tropical medicine researchers from Russia have been undertaking Ebola vaccine trials in Guinea after phases 1 and 2 of testing were managed in Russia with volunteers. To date, all tests have showed that the vaccine called GamEvac-Combi is very effective.
According to Skvortsova, Russian scientists have developed two versions of the vaccine and among them one is using pioneering technology. The vaccine has almost no side effects and it is easily tolerated. Even at very low concentrations of the vaccine all the test subjects experienced a power immune-boosting effect creating a high amount of antibodies against the disease. Four or five months after the initial vaccination the antibodies levels remain high.
Currently, two Ebola vaccine main rivals are going through small-scale clinical trials. A joint development project is being undertaken by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and GlaxoSmithKline. In the same time, the pharmaceutical company Merck is developing a vaccine with help from Canada.
