The Ebola vaccine unfortunately will not be available to the US until 2016. However, the virus has been contained and left the US. Hopefully, it will stay out. Photo from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Needle_Spike.jpg
By now, the story of the Ebola outbreak has been in most newspaper headlines. The virus has made its way to America and is scaring many people. The Ebola virus is highly infectious and can easily be transmitted from one person to another.
Senior Summer Williams said, “It’s some crazy stuff man. They are trying to “control the population” a.k.a. kill us and I can not dig it.” Many others agree with Summer on the conspiracy that the government leaked the virus into the US in order to contain the rapidly growing population.
Ebola is a deadly viral infection that kills 60%-90% of humans that it infects. It damages blood vessels and can cause internal bleeding, shock, and eventually death. Until recently, Ebola was contained in small settlements in several African countries.
However, a recent large outbreak of Ebola infections occurred in several East African countries (Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Guinea). Over 2,000 people have died from this infection. Also a senior, Molly Yinger said that the statistics of people dying in Africa doesn’t scare her. It will only worry her when there are more cases in the United States.
The National Institute of Health began working on an Ebola vaccine after 9/11 when biological weapons were a big concern. Going from test tubes to humans is expensive and complicated, especially for an exotic disease that, until now, was popping up in small numbers and contained to another continent.
The bulk of the research was left to government funding. One potential vaccine was developed at NIH with the pharmaceutical company Glaxosmithkline. Human trials began last month and officials say there are no red flags.
The company’s head of research said that even if it’s successful, the vaccine wouldn’t be available until 2016.Though many are upset that they have to wait so long for it, Diego Herrera, a senior, said “I feel like as long as no one gets hurt and all the testing beforehand is legitimate, then it is alright to be precautious and wait.”