ABSTRACT
At the onset of the 2014–2016 West African outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD), no vaccine to prevent the disease had yet undergone human trials. In 2014, as the West Africa Ebola outbreak spread, vaccine development became a much more immediate priority. Ebolavirus preferentially targets cells of the immune system, including macrophages and dendritic cells. Two primates, the rhesus and the cynomolgus monkey, had been established as the usual animal models for research into Ebola virus vaccines. The earliest potential vaccines, developed shortly after Ebola virus was first identified in 1976, were composed of inactivated ZEBOV virus. The vaccine was produced by replacing the section of VZV RNA that codes for surface protein with the section of ebolavirus, which codes for the surface glycoprotein and using this altered rVSV, termed rVSV–ZEBOV, as the vaccine preparation. Convincing data about the safety and efficacy of vaccines most often comes from clinical trials.
