Ebola: Canada offers 1000 dose of experimental vaccine to 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. Continue...
"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.