Canada begins Ebola vaccine trial

Canada’s Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose, announced phase one for the clinical trials of Canada’s Ebola vaccine. The trial will be led by the Canadian Immunization Research Network (CIRN) at Halifax, Nova Scotia, according to a press release.

“Canada’s experimental Ebola vaccine is the result of years of research and hard work by Canadian scientists. The results of this clinical trial will offer us valuable data about the safety and effectiveness of our vaccine and will hopefully provide us with the information we need to proceed with further clinical trials in the countries most affected by Ebola,” said Dr. Gregory Taylor, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada.

This first trial will test the experimental vaccine on a small group of people to assess its safety, dosage and possible side effects. The trial is jointly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). The vaccine does not contain a live Ebola virus and there is no risk that the volunteers could contract the virus through these trials, says the press release.

Canada joins the trials being carried out at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland and at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. The Canadian trial will examine lower dosing levels as well as the effect of the vaccine on older populations.