An Ebola Vaccine that Seems to Work

[BillTre]

Lancet has a report of a vaccine for the Ebola virus.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Here's a popular press summary of the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/health/ebola-vaccine.html

In a scientific triumph that will change the way the world fights a terrifying killer, an experimental Ebola vaccine tested on humans in the waning days of the West African epidemic has been shown to provide 100 percent protection against the lethal disease.

The vaccine has not yet been approved by any regulatory authority, but it is considered so effective that an emergency stockpile of 300,000 doses has already been created for use should an outbreak flare up again.

Seems like the vaccine should be very helpful in future outbreaks. However, it's efficacy will rely on the ability of government and public health officials to efficiently distribute the vaccine in future outbreaks, which is not always so easy in the third-world countries where Ebola outbreaks occur.

There is still work to do, however, to obtain better vaccines in the future:

An ideal vaccine would protect against all Ebola strains and Marburg. However, Dr. Kieny said, it may not be possible to make a shot effective against several strains if it is t based on the VSV spine because VSV triggers a lot of side effects.

Risks that are acceptable in the midst of a deadly epidemic are not acceptable in a preventive vaccine given to healthy children and adults, several experts noted.

Of course, it is not clear whether targeted, "ring vaccination" or routine vaccination would be the better strategy against a disease with relatively infrequent outbreaks such as Ebola.