Ebola vaccine distribution 1 month away at least; airdrops of aid considered for quarantined

The distribution of the first doses of an experimental vaccine to prevent the Ebola virus is at least a month away as international aid agencies consider using air drops to deliver supplies to communities that have been quarantined.

Bloomberg reports that the WHO is analyzing the safety of the vaccine, which has not been tested on humans. The WHO must also determine what countries will receive the vaccines, and in what amount.

One of the developers of the vaccine told Bloomberg that they did not see any reason to worry about possible negative consequences from the drug. This is because while it has not been tested on humans, the researcher said it had been tested numerous times on primates without any adverse effects.

The vaccines were donated by the government of Canada and are currently being stored in the Canadian city of Winnipeg, where they were developed in Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory.

Health authorities are currently discussing ways that drug manufactures can bring the vaccine into full-scale production with the hope of making 10,000 doses in the coming months.

Bloomberg said that there are currently four other treatments under development that have shown promise for combating the deadly virus.

Reuters says that because of quarantines and the deaths of farmers in Sierra Leone and Liberia, food is now becoming scarce. Compounding the problem is that many truck drivers have refused to travel to areas afflicted by the disease, creating more shortages.

The United Nations has declared that Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are currently suffering a Level Three food emergency, the worst classification used by the UN. Those three countries have also suffered the most deaths from the disease. They have all also declared states of emergency, allowing them to close their borders and use the army to enforce quarantines.