The World Health Organization on Friday announced that the new Ebola vaccine shows outstanding promise against the deadly virus, which has killed thousands of people in West Africa since an outbreak began in December 2013.
Initial results from a trial in which 4,000 people participated showed 100 percent protection from the Ebola virus if the vaccine was administered within 10 days of exposure. Global health specialists called the results "game changing."
The trial's results were published in the medical journal The Lancet. This was just one of several vaccine trials that were fast-tracked in a huge international effort to stem the spread of the deadly disease.
John-Arne Rottingen of Norway's Institute of Public Health, who was one of the trial's organizers, said, "It was a race against time and the trial had to be implemented under the most challenging circumstances."
The trial took place in Guinea, where new infections are still taking place.
The GAVI Alliance, a global health organization, said it would seek to support governments in poorer countries that would struggle to afford the vaccine if it is approved, according to Reuters.
