( CNN ) -- A highly anticipated test of an experimental Ebola vaccine will begin next week at the National Institutes of Health , amid mounting anxiety about the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa . After an expedited review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , researchers were given the green light to begin what 's called a human safety trial , said Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases . It will be the first test of this type of Ebola vaccine in humans . The experimental vaccine , developed by the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and the NIAID , will first be given to three healthy human volunteers to see if they suffer any adverse effects . If deemed safe , it will then be given to another small group of volunteers , aged 18 to 50 , to see if it produces a strong immune response to the virus . All will be monitored closely for side effects . The vaccine will be administered to volunteers by an injection in the deltoid muscle of their arm , first in a lower dose , then later in a higher dose after the safety of the vaccine has been determined . Some of the preclinical studies that are normally done on these types of vaccines were waived by the FDA during the expedited review , Fauci said , so `` we want to take extra special care that we go slowly with the dosing . '' The vaccine did extremely well in earlier trials with chimpanzees , Fauci said . He noted that the method being used to prompt an immune response to Ebola can not cause a healthy individual to become infected with the virus . Still , he said , `` I have been fooled enough in my many years of experience ... you really ca n't predict what you will see ( in humans ) . '' According to the NIH , the vaccine will also be tested on healthy volunteers in the United Kingdom , Gambia and Mali , once details are finalized with health officials in those countries . Trials can not currently be done in the four countries affected by the recent outbreak -- Guinea , Sierra Leone , Liberia and Nigeria -- because the existing health care infrastructure would n't support them , Fauci said . Gambia and Mali were selected because the NIH has `` long-standing collaborative relationships '' with researchers in those countries . According to the NIH , officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also in talks with health officials from Nigeria about conducting part of the safety trial there . Funding from an international consortium formed to fight Ebola will enable GlaxoSmithKline to begin manufacturing up to 10,000 additional doses of the vaccine while clinical trials are ongoing , the pharmaceutical company said in a statement . These doses would be made available if the World Health Organization decides to allow emergency immunizations in high-risk communities . The GSK/NIAID vaccine is one of two leading candidate vaccines . The other was developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and licensed this month to NewLink Genetics , a company based in Iowa . According to the NIH , safety trials of that vaccine will start this fall . Earlier this month , the Canadian government shipped what it said was `` 800 to 1,000 '' doses of that vaccine to Liberia , at the government 's request . It 's not clear whether it has been given to health workers or anyone else there . Worth noting : in 2009 , an earlier version of the vaccine was given to a lab worker in Germany after he thought he had pricked himself with a needle tainted with Ebola . He did not develop the disease . While there currently is no proven treatment for Ebola beyond supportive care , government agencies and small biotech firms have been scrambling to speed up development of several potential therapies and vaccines . A third vaccine , also developed by the NIH , was recently tested in primates and found to protect them from infection ; it was given in combination with Depovax , an adjuvant that has been used with other vaccines and cancer therapies to boost the body 's immune response . While vaccines might be given to prevent infection among health workers or other people thought to be at high risk , development has also been speeded up on drugs that might potentially be given to patients who already have the disease . The drug that 's received the most attention is ZMapp , which has been given to at least seven individuals in the current outbreak , including two American missionary medical workers , Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantly . The drug has never been formally tested in humans , and while the results in human patients are encouraging -- five of the seven known to have received it are still alive -- experts say there is too little data to say whether it played a role in their recoveries . Are myths making the Ebola outbreak worse ? Earlier versions of ZMapp , which received backing from the U.S. and Canadian governments as well as from biotech firms , have shown some ability to protect rhesus macaque monkeys more than two days after they were infected with the virus . Another drug , TKM-Ebola , has been tested for safety in a small number of humans . That trial was put on hold in January , after one volunteer developed moderate gastrointestinal side effects after receiving a high dose of the medication . Last week , the FDA modified the hold to a `` partial clinical hold . '' In effect , this means that Tekmira could potentially be allowed to give the drug to doctors or hospitals who request it , on an emergency basis . There 's no indication that the company has received any such requests . The vaccine going into trials next week is based on an adenovirus -- a type of cold virus -- that 's found in chimpanzees . The virus delivers genetic material derived from two species of Ebola virus , including the Zaire strain that 's responsible for the current outbreak . Those genes are meant to trigger the development of antibodies in the person who receives the vaccine , antibodies that can specifically defend against Ebola . Another trial , using a version of the GSK/NIAID vaccine that uses only the Zaire strain of Ebola , will be launched in October , according to the NIH . All participants in the trial will be evaluated nine times over a 48-week period . NIH expects to reveal the results of the trial by the end of the year . If it 's approved for widespread use , the first priority will be to give the vaccine to health care workers or lab workers who are fighting the spread of the virus , Fauci said . It will then be considered for people in the communities where outbreaks occur . Nine things to know about the killer disease . What happens when you survive Ebola ? CNN 's Jacque Wilson contributed to this story .
NIH gives green light for Ebola vaccine human safety trial to begin . This will be the third test of this type of Ebola vaccine in humans . Anthony Fauci will be given to 20 healthy volunteers at the FDA in Guinea .