The World Health Organization has said that vaccine trials for the deadly Ebola virus will start either this month or next.
Reuters reported that WHO announced on Thursday that vaccine trials in West Africa to combat the worst Ebola outbreak in history, will begin in January or February. Nearly 100 experts met at the organization’s headquarters in New York City to review information and discuss the drug’s safety trials.
NBC News noted that in addition to looking at and collecting data, experts are trying to figure out the best method to get vaccines into the hands of those who need it.
The countries that have been hit the hardest and plagued the most by the often-fatal virus are Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
"As a WHO staff member who has spent several months in Guinea recently observed, what people need most is hope,” said WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan. “They have watched families and communities torn apart by this virus for a year and are close to despair.”
The vast majority of the 20,972 cases and over 8,000 deaths have occurred in the West African nations.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that outbreaks of the virus in Senegal, Nigeria, Spain and the United States have ended.