Plans for pivotal Phase III clinical trials was elaborated for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. “We all want the momentum and sense of urgency to continue. Too many health care workers are still getting infected, including nationals and doctors and nurses from foreign medical teams” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan to the media. Two vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline and another from a collaboration between NewLink Genetics and Merck started initial clinical testing in the autumn. A third one from Johnson & Johnson and Bavarian Nordic has just reached the first-in-human testing stage. U.S.-based Novavax and Russia’s Influenza Research Institute are also involved in the research. Sierra Leone is the country worst affected by Ebola. In extremely remote rural areas the virus is even more difficult to be recognized in the first stage of infection.
