The Ebola vaccine was developed in Canada and is still experimental
Recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus–Zaire Ebola virus (rVSV-ZEBOV) is an experimental vaccine for protection against Ebola virus disease.
As of April 2017, ring vaccination with rVSV-ZEBOV appeared to be somewhat effective, but the extent of efficacy was uncertain. When used in ring-vaccination, rVSV-EBOV has shown a high level of protection. Around half the people given the vaccine have mild to moderate adverse effects that include headache, fatigue, and muscle pain.
rVSV-ZEBOV is a recombinant, replication-competent vaccine. It consists of a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), which has been genetically engineered to express a glycoprotein from the Zaire ebolavirus so as to provoke a neutralizing immune response to the Ebola virus.
It was created by scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). PHAC licensed it to a small company, NewLink Genetics, which started developing the vaccine; NewLink in turn licensed it to Merck in 2014. It is being used in DR Congo in a 2018 outbreak in Équateur province and in North Kivu.
Adverse effects
Adverse effects have occurred in around half the people given the vaccine, were generally mild to moderate, and included headache, fatigue, and muscle pain.
Chemistry
rVSV-ZEBOV is a live, attenuated recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus in which the gene for the native envelope glycoprotein is replaced with that from the Ebola virus, Kikwit 1995 Zaire strain. Manufacturing of the vaccine for the Phase I trial was done by IDT Biologika. Manufacturing of vaccine for the Phase III trial was done by Merck, using cells from African green monkeys, which Merck already used to make its RotaTeq vaccine against rotavirus.