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Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday that his country has developed a vaccine for the deadly Ebola virus.
Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said the vaccine had been successfully tested on people.
“We have good news. We have registered a medicine for the Ebola fever, which after the relevant tests, has proven to have a high effectiveness, higher than those drugs which until now have been used in the world,” Putin said, Sputnik reported.
Last month, Russia reportedly registered two Ebola fever vaccines, which were developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and tested in cooperation with the Health and Defense ministries. One of the vaccines was designed specifically for people with immunodeficiency, said Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova.
“One of the vaccines is absolutely unique and has no analogues in the world. It provides 100 percent immunity to the disease,” Skvortsova told the Russian news agency Tass.
Guinea, where the latest outbreak of Ebola took place, has asked Russia for help in dispensing the new vaccine to its territory “in the coming months,” according to Skvotsova, RT reported. Putin has authorized the Health and Foreign ministries to begin work with Africa.
Other Ebola vaccines have been developed and successfully tested in other countries, ABC News reported. An American drug company produced a vaccine tested in Guinea last year, and the preliminary findings suggest a high success rate after being tested on 4,000 patients. A vaccine designed for people with immunodeficiency has also been developed in Britain.
The Ebola outbreak began in December 2013, spreading across West Africa and killing 11,000 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Agencies/Canadajournal
