Tests of Russian vaccine against Ebola to carry on in Guinea until end of 2018 - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Aug 17 (Interfax) - Russia's Gam Evac-Kombi vaccine against the Ebola virus will be tested on 2,000 Guinean volunteers, findings will be revealed by the end of next year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said at its website on Thursday.
"The vaccination of 2,000 Guinean volunteers and post-registration clinical tests of the Russian vaccine against the Ebola virus titled Gam Evac-Kombi in the Republic of Guinea are expected to carry on until the end of 2018," the ministry said.
"The program of tests involves vaccination of volunteers by the Gam Evac-Kombi vaccine and supervision for their health and immunity build-up over a year. Successful findings of tests will make it possible to apply the Russian medication for Ebola prevention all across the world," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Equipment and vaccines were supplied to Guinea from Russia in July, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The Gamaleya Institute has prepared and delivered over 1,000 doses of vaccine to begin vaccination. Efforts have been made to prepare the mobilization of Guinean volunteers. For this purpose the Guinean health minister issued a decree to establish a Gam Evac-Combi vaccination assistance national committee, which comprised Russian and Guinean scientists and specialists, who are organizing and carrying out on-site tests and are recruiting volunteers.
Post-registration clinical tests of the Russian vaccine against the Ebola virus began in the Republic of Guinea on August 9. The Guinean Health Ministry ethical committee issued a permit for undertaking Russian vaccine clinical tests involving 2,000 volunteers from Guinean citizens in July 2016, the statement said.
The Ebola epidemic in West Africa mainly affected three countries, that is, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. As many as 28,600 people got infected with the Ebola virus in the world, over 11,300 of them died of it, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) statistical data.
