EBOVAC-Salone lectures MPs on trial vaccines

Freetown, July 27 (SLENA) – The Principal Investigator of EBOVAC-Salone, Dr. Bailah Leigh last week Thursday presented to MPs on the Committee of Health and Sanitation the objective of the pilot dual vaccine test that is about to be carried out in the Kambia District.

The presentation was done in the Conference Room of the new Administrative building in Parliament.

According to the presentation, the trial of the vaccines in Kambia is yet to start because it is awaiting approval from the Ethics Commission and the Pharmacy Board, the finalization of the infrastructure, community sensitization and the completion of staff training.

Dr. Leigh said that the study was going to be run by COMAHS in partnership with Ministry of Health and Sanitation, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, amongst others, with the view to determining the “immunogenicity of a new prime-boost ebola vaccine regimen in subjects over the age of one year in an Ebola affected community”.

He said that the reasons for the use of the “prime-boost-regimen” were to increase the level of protection that would be induced by the vaccine and the duration of the protection that would be followed by the vaccination. He furthered that the reasons for the development of the vaccine which had been tested successfully without adverse effects on primates and human beings in non-ebola affected countries like UK and USA were to cut down on huge cost of surveillance to control EVD.

Dr. Leigh said vaccination could be used to contain future outbreak and that mass vaccination at the national level may prevent future outbreaks in the country. He also said it was voluntary to take the trial vaccine in Kambia District where it would be initially tested on 40 adults. He said the ongoing CDC vaccine only targets health workers but that the EBOVAC (Ebola Vaccine), a dual vaccine trial, aims at targeting the entire population in the country.

He also noted that the legacy of the study would benefit Kambia with “an emergency room, a research laboratory, cold store depot and PHU fridges, not leaving out capacity building for the local staff.

The Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Health and Sanitation, Hon. Alhassan Kamara, before giving the floor to MPs, said the ebola outbreak had provoked a lot of discussions and had caused irreparable damage to the nation, whilst citing the loss of health workers and loved ones to EVD. He called for the assurance of safety during the trial of the vaccine and expressed fear that it might add to the current misery of the people.

Members of Parliament raised a lot of concerns hinging on the difference between the two trial vaccines, remedial measures in case of failure, motivation to get volunteers and stakeholders to volunteer for the trial vaccines. Also raised was the issue of Kambia MPs coming out to sensitize their constituents on the need for the trial and volunteerism, deniability of EVD in Kambia in certain areas, guarantee of the trial vaccine, timeline for sexual behavior, and whether Dr. Bailah Leigh will be willing to take the trial vaccines, timeline for both trial vaccines, evidence-based result of where the trials had been done on human beings, etc.

In answering the questions posed by MPs, Dr. Leigh said among other things that the trial vaccines would be given to adults and one year old children and above on a voluntary basis, adding that anyone who suffered side effects as a result of the trial would be cared for.

He however warned that unhealthy people and pregnant women are not allowed to take the trial vaccines, adding that two weeks before taking the vaccine, one could be put on contraption and that the vaccine trial is exclusively for Kambia. Therefore, Dr. Leigh is not eligible for the test.

He also said “once the trial vaccines succeed in Kambia, it will be replicated in the whole country, noting that by “taking the vaccines, it is possible that one cannot get ebola”. He added that the “first trial of the vaccine can be monitored after weeks, before the next trial can be administered after several weeks again”.

The substantive Chairman for the Committee on Health and Sanitation in Parliament, Hon. Dr. Abdulai Sesay thanked the team for the presentation and encouraged them to get approval from the Pharmacy Board, whilst noting that the research laboratory that would be built in Kambia would benefit the people immensely.

Credit SLENA

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