Canada Will Donate Up To 1,000 Experimental Ebola Vaccine Doses To WHO

A picture taken on July 24, 2014 shows staff of the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse putting on protective gear in the ELWA hospital in the Liberian capital Monrovia. (AFP Photo / Zoom Dosso)

Canada has offered to donate its experimental Ebola virus vaccine to West African States after the WHO said it would be ethical to use untested vaccines to try and contain the outbreak that has already claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHA) the country sees the vaccine as a global resource and is in talks with the US and the World Health Organization to coordinate the best application of a limited number of doses in its possession.

The deputy head of PHA Dr. Gregory Taylor estimates that Canada has about 1,500 doses of the vaccine, which has not yet been tested on people, saying that 1,000 doses of vaccine could be sent abroad for use, Canadian Press reports.

There is no treatment or vaccine for Ebola, which has a mortality rate of up to 90 percent. Currently it can be contained if those exposed are swiftly isolated. According to CDC guidelines, medical workers treating Ebola patients should wear protective gowns, goggles, face masks and gloves.

Companies working against the clock to provide treatments include Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals and Siga Technologies.

As soon as next month GlaxoSmithKline and American scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases want to conduct a clinical trial after promising test results in primates.