Testing of the new made-in-Canada Ebola vaccine is underway in Halifax as the first participants cleared to take part in the trial receive their injections.

Emily Sollows was one of seven people injected with the vaccine Thursday.

“I barely felt it. It’s a little bit hot right now, but that’s about it, like my arm is fine. I feel fine,” said Sollows.

She said she jumped at the chance to take part in the clinical trial when she heard testing would be done in Halifax.

“I reassured my family and friends that I wasn’t actually getting injected with Ebola.”

Phase 1 of the clinical trial is taking place at the IWK Health Centre. Those who were vaccinated Thursday will return on Friday for a follow-up.

They will be checked for things like swelling or tenderness of the arm, fever and headaches, and more bloodwork will be done.

“We see them one day after vaccination, day three, day seven, day14, day 21, so there’s a lot of follow-up,” said registered nurse Karen Branscombe.

Blood, urine and saliva samples will be collected over the next eight visits and then processed for shipping to theNational Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, where the vaccine was developed.

Those taking part in the clinical trial have also been asked to keep a diary, to track their temperature and how they are feeling in general.

Health officials said getting volunteers wasn’t an issue; hundreds of people expressed interest in the trial within hours of the announcement.

The goal is to have 40 participants between the ages of 18 and 65. Sixty have been screened so far.

“I just think it’s such an interesting thing to be a part of, I mean, this is totally new to the hospital, to the nurses, to the participants,” said Sollows. “It’s something that’s never been done before.”

“It’s very interesting because it’s cutting edge, so there’s a lot of attention and so, yeah, it’s very exciting for us,” said Branscombe.

Each participant will receive roughly $1,100 for taking part in the trial. The goal is to have 40 participants vaccinated by the end of next week.

As for the Ebola virus, is it said to be spreading in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the total number of Ebola cases was nearing 16,000. As of Nov. 23, it said 15,935 cases had been reported in eight countries.

Of those infected during the epidemic, 5,689 have died.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jacqueline Foster and The Canadian Press