WASHINGTON — The nation’s top infectious disease official says there’s hope that a vaccine against Ebola will be available as early as next July.

Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health says such a preventive vaccine has been successfully tested with monkeys.

Fauci told “CBS This Morning” today that human trials with volunteers will commence in September, and by July it should be ready.

He also says people shouldn’t have concerns that two infected patients were brought here from West Africa, saying they can be handled safely.

More than 1,300 people have been stricken in West Africa, and nearly 730 have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ebola currently has no vaccine or antidote. It is contracted through close contact with bodily fluid and blood, unlike other airborne viruses.