MOSCOW, December 23. /TASS/. An experimental Ebola vaccine proved to be highly protective against the deadly virus in a major trial in Guinea, the World Health Organization announced in a statement Friday.

"While these compelling results come too late for those who lost their lives during West Africa's Ebola epidemic, they show that when the next Ebola outbreak hits, we will not be defenceless," said Dr Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Health Systems and Innovation, who is also the study’s lead author.

The vaccine, called rVSV-ZEBOV, was studied in a trial involving 11,841 people in Guinea during 2015. Among the 5,837 people who received the vaccine, no Ebola cases were recorded 10 days or more after vaccination. In comparison, there were 23 cases 10 days or more after vaccination among those who did not receive the vaccine.

The vaccine was manufactured by Merck, Sharpe & Dohme (MSD).

According to the WHO, more than 11,000 people died during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Most fatalities occurred in Liberia, Sierra-Leone and Guinea.