By Yinka Shokunbi
As the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) reaches its peak and is wearing off in parts of West African countries, a panel of international experts, concerned about the risk that Ebola transmission could continue, have published a roadmap to fast-track development of Ebola vaccines.
Osterholm
The experts were convened by the Wellcome Trust and the University of Minnesota’s Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
According to the experts, the recommendations, which were made available to our correspondent, “will help guide global efforts to expedite the availability of effective and safe Ebola vaccines to help bring an end to the current epidemic in West Africa, in addition to providing a framework to ensure the world is better prepared for inevitable future outbreaks of Ebola and other infectious diseases.”
At the moment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) data shows that there have been about 23 253 reported confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of EVD in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone as at February 18, with about 9,380 reported deaths in the period (outcome of many cases are unknown).
Sierra Leone, till date, has the highest reported cases of 11,103 cases and 3,408 deaths, followed by Liberia with 9,002 cases and 3,900 deaths and Guinea with 3,108 cases and 2,057 deaths.
The experts expressed concern that despite ongoing public health efforts and a fall in the number of cases, the potential for Ebola virus disease (EVD) to become endemic in West Africa is still a real and concerning possibility.
According to them, the availability of an effective and safe Ebola virus vaccine will be a crucial component of an integrated approach that includes classic public health measures, medical treatment and community interventions based on the social factors that lead to virus transmission.
To support international efforts, the Wellcome Trust and CIDRAP established the Ebola Vaccine “Team B” in November 2014. The 26 distinguished international leaders in public health, medicine, bioethics, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and humanitarian relief are involved in one or more areas of vaccine work, and provided collective critical analysis in key areas of vaccine development.
The purpose of the project is to provide a complementary and creative review of all aspects of developing and delivering effective and safe Ebola vaccines, from funding, research, development, vaccine efficacy and effectiveness determination, licensure, manufacturing, and vaccination strategy (distribution and administration).
The recommendations of the team, co-chaired by Director of the Wellcome Trust, Dr. Jeremy Farrar and Director of CIDRAP, Professor Michael Osterholm, include that Ebola vaccine manufacturing could be accelerated by streamlining production, using existing vaccine technologies and that Phase 2/3 clinical trials should be continued even if definitive data on vaccine efficacy cannot be guaranteed.
They also recommended that African stakeholders must be at the forefront of ethical decisions that affect the safety and wellbeing of those populations hardest hit by the current outbreak, and that once this outbreak has been controlled, stockpiling vaccines for future outbreaks must be considered.
According to Farrar, “Despite falling infection rates in West Africa, the risk that the current Ebola outbreak may not be brought completely under control remains. The accelerated development of candidate vaccines, in collaboration between governments, industry, academia and philanthropy, is essential.”
He added: “We may see an end to this Ebola epidemic within the year if we continue with the current remarkable efforts, but we must not be complacent about the inevitable future epidemics of Ebola and other emerging infectious diseases. This framework, designed to guide global preparations and focusing on what needs to be done now for this epidemic and put into place in the period between future epidemics, will prove critical in minimising the chances of the world finding itself in a position again where we do not have treatments and vaccines for these predictable and often devastating diseases.
According to Osterholm, “We believe that the findings in our analysis and report have far reaching implications for vaccine development for Ebola vaccines and for other emerging infectious diseases.”
“It represents a real roadmap for soon realising the availability of effective and safe Ebola vaccines in Africa. This is the tool that will provide the ultimate public health lever needed to address Ebola today and in the future”, he concludes.
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