Following
the sporadic increase in the spread of Ebola virus in West 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 which has 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 World Health Organization's Director General, Margaret Chan,
has approved of the donation.
The Minister
also revealed that Canada will be donating $185,000 to the World Health
Organization for the prevention 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.
"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 statement added 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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