very instrumental in saving the lives of many Guinean Ebola patients” during the height of the disease in that country in 2014.

Speaking in Brewerville City outside Monrovia recently, PREVAIL’s Pillar lead on Advocacy, Mr. Joseph Boye Cooper, explained that about 8,000 lives of Ebola patients in neighboring Guinea were saved as a result of the rVsV Ebola prevention vaccine which was experimented in Liberia in 2014.

Cooper said the Medical Study, which was referred to as PREVAIL-1, was conducted at the Redemption Hospital in New Kru Town with 1,500 volunteers enrolling in the study.

“Out of the three study vaccines experimented, the rVsV proved successful and workable, this is why PREVAIL recommended it for use in Guinea to quell to the rampaging disease, something that has become a success story.” Cooper averred.

A press release quotes Cooper as saying that in Liberia, the rVsV Ebola prevention vaccine was administered to 210 Ebola suspects in Duport Road and Cow Field, Paynesville, during an EVD outbreak, while 234 EVD suspects also took the vaccine during the latest Ebola outbreak in five communities, including Soul Clinic, Cooper Farm, and Swaka-Moore in Paynesville, outside Monrovia.

“Results from these tests conducted with the vaccine proved successful; however, it is now left with the WHO (World Health Organization) to declare the vaccine useable or legitimate for medical purpose,” he opined.

The PREVAIL Lead on Advocacy was addressing over 50 participants, including mainly health workers, members of the St. Paul District MOH Health team, local and community leaders as well as Ebola survivors.

Cooper disclosed that the on-going five-year PREVAIL Medical Study (Research) on Ebola survivors and their close contacts in Liberia, is the largest ever medical study in the world with the targeted enrollment of 7,500 volunteers.

He noted that Liberia is about to make history as findings of the medical research will be used as treatment for people who will suffer from similar EVD outbreaks in any part of the world in the future.
LINA PR/TSS/PTK