U.S. health officials have begun enrolling volunteers for critical next-stage testing of an experimental vaccine to protect against Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that can cause devastating birth defects in pregnant women. All the volunteers will be tracked for nearly two years to see if the vaccine really protects against Zika infection. In contrast, the DNA vaccine works through trickery: It's made with a circular piece of DNA carrying genes from the Zika virus that, once in the body, make particles that resemble Zika enough to alert the immune system but cannot cause infection. The NIH also is testing the safety of some more traditional Zika vaccine candidates, but the easier-to-make DNA vaccine was the first ready to advance to this second stage of human testing. "I'm totally intent on getting this vaccine to the point it can be a usable vaccine."

Source: ABC News March 31, 2017 18:45 UTC