Ebola: Canada offers 1000 dose of experimental vaccine to Africa
The
Canadian Public Health Agency has offered to release 1000 dose of a
made-in-Canada experimental Ebola virus vaccine known as VSV-EBOV
whichhas never been tested on humans but has shown to be effective in
the treatment of the disease in animals.
In
a statement released yesterday August 12th, the Canadian Health
Minister Rona Ambrose said the WorldHealth Organization’s Director
general, Margaret Chan, has approved of the donation.
The
Ministeralso revealed that Canada will be donating $185,000to the
World Health Organizationfor theprevention and control of the deadly
virus in Africa. Canada has only 1500 of the experimental vaccine and
would be sending 1000 of it to Africa. Continue…
“I
was pleased to offer the experimental vaccine developed by Canadian
researchers as a global resource to help fight this outbreak,” she
said, adding that between 800 and 1,000 doses would be donated to the
WHO. The Minister in the
statementadded that “Canada feels this experimental vaccine is a
global resource, so in response we are sharing it with the
international community, while keeping a small supply in Canada.”
The news comes hours after the World Health Organization said a panel of experts advised that it would be ethical to use untested drugs and vaccines in this raging epidemic, which is several times larger than any previous outbreak.
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