Ebola Vaccine In Dakota at Sanford Health

People Get Vaccinated With Ebola In United States

FARGO – A vaccine for the Ebola virus will be tested at Sanford Health locations in Fargo and in Sioux Falls, S.D., in the coming months. The vaccine is “very promising” and is the subject of eight trials in various countries including the U.S. 

The vaccine is “very promising” and is the subject of eight trials in various countries including the U.S. and Canada, said Dr. Dubert Guerrero, an infectious diseases specialist who is leading the Fargo study.

Sanford is seeking 30 or more paid volunteers for the study, and some have already volunteered, Guerrero said. The volunteers will receive the vaccine and then have their blood tested over the course of six months to see if they develop Ebola-fighting antibodies.

The volunteers will not be given the Ebola virus. They will receive a vaccine made from a different kind of virus genetically engineered to carry a protein present in the Ebola virus, Guerrero said.

His research is part of a larger study involving 1,125 patients. “Sanford Fargo was the very first site that opened up for this study, and we enrolled the first patient ever in the world for this study,” he said.

The Fargo study is unique because it is a phase III study, which involves testing on more numerous subjects who are healthy. Volunteers must be ages 18 to 65 and not have previous contact with the Ebola virus.

Volunteers for the study will come in for four visits. In the first visit, 90 percent will receive the vaccine while 10 percent receive a placebo. Next, they will get blood work done to see if they have developed antibodies. Then they will come in for a check and finally they will get blood work done again.

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