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Human trials sped up to deliver millions of Ebola vaccines in 2015

Millions of doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine will be ready by the end of 2015 after drugmakers pledged to work together to speed up safety trials in human volunteers.

The World Health Organisation said high risk groups, including frontline health workers in West Africa, are front of the queue to receive the vaccines by early next year.

An estimated 200,000 doses of experimental Ebola vaccines could be available by the middle of 2015 after a meeting of drug officials in Geneva.

The WHO said potential manufacturers have committed to ensuring vaccines are sold at affordable prices.

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Ebola losses in Liberia 'could hit 90,000 if control efforts not stepped up', experts warn

Ebola could kill more than 90,000 people in Liberia by December if there is not a significant increase in international action, a report suggests.

A team of US scientists estimated there could be 90,122 deaths in the country's most populated county Montserrado by December 15.

They added that some 170,996 people may have been infected by the virus by then, representing 12% of an overall population of some 1.38 million.

Lead researcher Professor Alison Galvani, from the School of Public Health at Yale University, said: "Our predictions highlight the rapidly closing window of opportunity for controlling the outbreak and averting a catastrophic toll of new Ebola cases and deaths in the coming months.

"Although we might still be within the midst of what will ultimately be viewed as the early phase of the current outbreak, the possibility of averting calamitous repercussions from an initially delayed and insufficient response is quickly eroding."

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