FDA Approves First Ebola Vaccine After More than Two Decades of Research

Jan 9, 2020, 14:56 PM by Connie Holubar

Health workers in protective clothing speak with people awaiting medical treatment in the outpatient lounge of Redemption Hospital, formerly an Ebola holding center, in Monrovia, Liberia, in 2015. John Moore/Getty Images

In late December, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first vaccine against Ebola. On Jan. 7, award-winning health and science journalist Helen Branswell published a fascinating article detailing the long road taken by dedicated research scientists to bring this life-saving vaccine to market.

Dr.Tom Geisbert, whose team at UTMB played a critical role in bringing this vaccine to people who need it, is credited in the article for his nearly career-long commitment to the project. Dr. Geisbert's work began more than 18 years ago when he was working at the Army lab at Fort Detrick (USAMRIID) and continued through the present with his team at the Galveston National Laboratory.

Branswell's article is a detailed and incredibly interesting read that shows just how complicated it can be for scientists to get both the funding and support they need to develop a vaccine, particularly for a disease that, until the 2014 Ebola outbreak, popped up only intermittently in remote areas of the world with relatively few cases.

Check out the article here:‘Against all odds’: The inside story of how scientists across three continents produced an Ebola vaccine