Advertisement

EU leaders pledge €1bn to fight Ebola

European Union leaders have pledged a total of €1bn to help fight the outbreak of Ebola in w...
Newstalk
Newstalk

15.28 24 Oct 2014


Share this article


EU leaders pledge €1bn to figh...

EU leaders pledge €1bn to fight Ebola

Newstalk
Newstalk

15.28 24 Oct 2014


Share this article


European Union leaders have pledged a total of €1bn to help fight the outbreak of Ebola in west Africa.

The promises have been made at the European Council summit in Brussels.

Elsewhere, a 33 year-old doctor who worked in West Africa with Ebola patients remains in an isolation unit in New York after testing positive for the virus.

Advertisement

He's the fourth person diagnosed with the disease in the US and the first in its largest city.

The World Health Organisation says it expects 100,000 doses of new Ebola vaccine to be available early next year.

The trials could start in west Africa in December, with WHO assistant director general Marie-Paule Kieny saying that the vaccines could be available in the "first half" of 2015.

She added: "Before the end of first half of 2015...we could have available a few hundred thousand doses. That could be 200,000 - it could be less or could be more."

Kieny was speaking after WHO held talks on potential vaccines with health experts, officials from Ebola-affected nations and pharmaceutical firms.

There is currently no proven vaccine against the deadly virus and drug companies have previously avoided investing too heavily in a cure because outbreaks before this year's had been small.

West Africa's Ebola outbreak began in March and has killed more than 4,500 people, most of them in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to the WHO.

It believes that up to 1.4 million could have been affected by the virus by 2015 and there are also fears the virus may be used as a weapon of bio-terrorism.

Two leading vaccine contenders are already in trials, with another five to begin trials next year.

US firm Johnson & Johnson have already said they aim to produce at least one million doses of their vaccine next year and UK-based GlaxoSmithKiline is also working on a vaccine called ChAd3.

GSK's chief executive Sir Andrew Witty said earlier that this week's meeting of health experts should discuss ways to make sure all drug companies worked together to get the vaccine out.

Kieny said: "Vaccine is not the magic bullet, but when ready, it may be a good part of the effort to turn the tide of the epidemic," Kieny said.


Share this article


Read more about

News

Most Popular