Mistrust, Lack Of Ebola Cases Pose Challenges To Vaccine Trials, Prevention Efforts

New York Times: Vaccines Face Same Mistrust That Fed Ebola
“…[T]he United States is helping to lead a large study of two vaccines against Ebola. But as researchers try to compress a clinical process that can take a decade into a fraction of the time, they are confronting the same volatile mix of skepticism, fear, false rumor, and understandable mistrust that helped spread Ebola in the first place. … The trial’s scale alone has posed tough ethical and practical questions. … And there is an added layer of mistrust directed at one of the most important partners in the trial: the Liberian government…” (Onishi/Fink, 3/13).

TIME: Lack of Ebola Cases Shifts Vaccine Trials Away From Liberia
“The National Institutes of Health (NIH) may relocate its clinical trials of Ebola vaccines to Guinea, since there are no longer enough Ebola cases in Liberia for a proper efficacy trial…” (Sifferlin, 3/13).

VOA News: Resistance to Anti-Ebola Steps Persists in Guinea, Sierra Leone
“This week’s report that the death toll from West Africa’s Ebola epidemic has topped 10,000 is a reminder that many challenges remain to bring the number of cases down to zero, health experts say. … [I]n Guinea and Sierra Leone, continued pockets of resistance to recommended anti-Ebola measures have continued to push up the caseload and death toll…” (Collins/Camara, 3/13).

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