Lassa vaccine tested for the first time in Ghana
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Nigeriahealthwatch
The first volunteers in Ghana received the experimental ChAdOx1 LassaJ vaccine against Lassa fever as part of a trial that will recruit up to 51 adults. The study is assessing its safety and immune response, with support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, reports Nigeria Health Watch.
Ghana has begun testing the experimental ChAdOx1 LassaJ vaccine against Lassa fever, with the first participants vaccinated at the Kintampo Health Research Centre in the centre of the country, according to Nigeria Health Watch. The trial is intended to measure the vaccine’s safety and the immune response it triggers.
The study will recruit up to 51 healthy adults aged 18 to 55. It is being conducted in parallel with a similar trial in Oxford, UK, with the support of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an organisation that funds efforts to accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemics.
No vaccine against Lassa fever is currently licensed. According to CEPI-funded projections, introducing a safe and effective vaccine in West Africa could prevent around 3,300 deaths over 10 years and reduce the costs borne by society by $128 million.
Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted mainly by food or objects contaminated with the urine or droppings of Mastomys rats. The candidate vaccine uses the University of Oxford’s ChAdOx1 technology, also used for the Covid-19 vaccine developed with AstraZeneca.
