A top World Health Organization (WHO) official said that a Zika virus vaccine would take “approximately 18 months” before it can be launched into large scale trial to demonstrate efficacy.
Speaking on Friday in Geneva, WHO’s Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny noted that at least 15 vaccines companies, or academic groups, already have an active programme on Zika vaccines or they are planning to start one.
She said, “for our research and development response to Zika, we have been very quick in getting our act together and moving. This is based on the fact that after the Ebola crisis, we began to develop a plan for accelerating R&D for future epidemics and this is called the R&D Blueprint. Working under the umbrella of the R&D Blueprint allows us to move quite quickly.”
The expert said that ten other companies are at various stages of development. She pointed out, however, that none of these tests have been independently validated and none have regulatory approval.
Dr. Kieny also said, “it is very important that data and information are shared as quickly as possible, because they can inform what the best strategies are for the response and they can inform also about the causality link between the symptoms that we see now – microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barré syndrome – and Zika infection.
Regarding vector control, she explained that innovative methods seem promising options – biological approaches for example, such as the controlled release of bacteria to prevent viral replication in mosquitoes; or genetic approaches, such as the release of genetically modified mosquitoes to reduce the mosquito population.
WHO continues working on landscape analyses for diagnostics and vaccines, as well as therapeutics, and innovative vector control measures. These analyses will be published on WHO’s website in the next two weeks.