FG begins study to facilitate Lassa fever vaccine production

The Federal Government has commenced clinical studies that will help in the production of Lassa fever vaccine to reduce the burden of the disease in the country and the entire West Africa.

The implementation of the ENABLE 1.5 study will build on the progress made on ENABLE 1.0, which tried to understand the epidemiology of Lassa fever and ran from 2020 to 2024.

Speaking at the Enable 1.5 kick-off meeting organised by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), and Nigeria Health Watch and other partners in Abuja, the National Project Coordinator, ENABLE 1.5 Study Nigeria, Dr Elsie Ilori, said that some gaps were identified in the first study and the current one will address those gaps such as proper case definition for Lassa fever for children zero to two years.

She said: “We want to know the way children react to Lassa fever, the symptoms and the various diagnoses for children. We are also looking at the co-infections in Lassa fever, and using malaria as a case point.

“We want to understand how the vaccine will work and effect on the people. We have different strains of Lassa fever and want to see how the vaccine can be produced to address all the strains using one vaccine.”

Also speaking, a Consultant Public Health Physician and Site Principal Investigator at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Ondo State, Ayodeji Olufemi, said that licensed vaccines for the prevention of Lassa fever may be developed in the next two years.

He stated that the phase two clinical trials for the Lassa fever vaccine are currently ongoing in Nigeria and Ghana, and will be concluded next year.

Olufemi observed that the phase three clinical trials of the vaccine will commence and take another year, making a total of two years for the development of the vaccine.

The Programme Manager, CEPI Enable Lassa Research Programme, Roice Fulton, said that the coalition has identified Lassa fever as one of the priority pathogens and working with the World Health Organisation (WHO) blueprint for Lasa fever to identify new therapeutics and vaccines for this Neglected Tropical Disease.

Fulton noted that CEPI has realised that it is not just important to have vaccines developed through clinical trials but to do the additional groundwork necessary and build necessary capacities.

Also, a consultant public health physician, Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, and Data Manager of the ENABLE 1.5 study, Dr Francis Erah, observed that the centre was managing a high burden of Lassa fever cases.

Erah noted that the hospital is one of the reference centres for managing Lassa fever. He observed that getting a vaccine for Lassa fever will ensure a significant reduction in the burden of the disease and also minimise the severity of the symptoms.

“Even if you have few cases of people coming down with symptoms, the severity will be minimised, and chances are that people will live healthier,” he added.