Researchers from the Oxford University revealed on Monday that they have found two vaccines that are highly promising in fighting the deadly Ebola virus.
Professor Adrian VS Hill, director of Jenner Institute (Oxford University), announced at a press conference of African Immunologists in Nairobi that they are planning to launch the vaccines by January.
"The two vaccines have demonstrated remarkable efficacy and have no side effects to Ebola patients. We anticipate their deployment will commence in January," Hill told IANS.
Effectiveness of the vaccine has already been proved on primates, while clinical trials on humans are still going on.
"There was a breakthrough in the clinical trials targeting monkeys and the next phase will focus on the vaccines' efficacy on humans," added Hill. "The vaccine is being tested in Mali where 80 people have received the jab."
Additionally, over 200 people have already received the experimental vaccine in the USA, the UK, Mali and Switzerland.
The vaccine will be available in the Ebola-hit West African countries, once it gets green signal from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
During the talk, Hill also said the vaccine will be given to health workers, who come in direct or indirect contact with the Ebola patients.
However, the latest figures from WHO shows that the disease continues to have a strong presence in West Africa. It has infected 16,169 people and killed nearly 7,000 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone alone.
Concerned with the increasing number of cases reported even several months after the outbreak, the UN Ebola response mission issued a warning on Monday, saying that the disease poses a "huge risk" and it can spread across the world, if the situation is not brought under control immediately, BBC reported.
Meanwhile, WHO is reportedly planning to zero down the cases by allotting more experts to these regions.
