Singapore: The US-based Novavax recently announced that it has begun human trials for its Ebola vaccine shot. The development program for the vaccine was expedited following a deadly Ebola outbreak that swept through West Africa killing nearly 9,000 people.

Since then the company has scaled-up its GMP manufacturing and vaccine formulation process. Mr Stanley Erck, Novavax's CEO, noted, "In less than five months, Novavax has validated its Ebola GP Vaccine with compelling animal data." The company is testing its new jab on nearly 230 healthy volunteers from Australia.

The participants, aged between 18 and 50, will receive two intramuscular injections 21 days apart. Results are expected by the end of the second quarter, said Mr Erck. He further added that the vaccine production can be rapidly scaled up to produce millions of doses.