WHO: Millions of Ebola Vaccine Doses Could Be Ready Next Year

Pharmaceutical companies are committed to making millions of doses of Ebola vaccines available next year, the World Health Organization announced Friday.

The United Nations organization said that two vaccines are currently ready for clinical trials and five more experimental vaccines are expected to undergo testing in the first four months of 2015.

The remarks were made by WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny and publicized on the WHO’s Twitter account. Kieny cautioned that the the vaccines might be “proven not usable” but it’s still “prudent” to prepare a large amount, according to the Twitter account. Over 4,800 people have died from Ebola this year.

If early testing goes well, more advanced trials of the potential Ebola vaccines could take place in the West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak as soon as December.