In late December 2016, scientists at a research facility in Guinea used the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine to treat Ebola, but now they’re finding out who has contracted it.

Ebola is a virus that causes severe bleeding, organ failure, and can lead to death. In Guinea, 6,000 individuals received a vaccine, in the hopes of fully eradicating the Ebola virus. Of those six thousand, none became infected after 10 to 84 days of treatment. Out of the 4,000 individuals who did not receive the vaccine, only 23 of them contracted Ebola. Since many were vaccinated, the virus had a lesser chance of spreading to others throughout the area. Though this seems like a miracle, scientists who created the vaccine don’t know how long it’ll last in the human system. Many are trying to come up with an algorithm to identify how long it will lasts.

Vivek Patel, a senior at Oakdale High School, states that this vaccine most likely isn’t promising. Patel explains: “They always get our hopes up on these types of things, but it never seems to come through.” Patel says his pessimistic outlook is because of past results and similar stories.

Patel stated: “Yes, of course I believe that this research should be continued. They should only release information when it gives individuals hope.”

Jennifer Murray, a senior, is very interested in biology. Contrasting with Patel, Murray, confident in their findings, stated: “If they were not confident in their findings, then they would not release them at all. It just wouldn’t make sense for this company to give us false hope when they know that the truth will eventually find its way out.”

Hopefully in a few months they will be sure that this vaccine will last an appropriate amount of time. This was very similar to the last time they created a vaccine for Ebola. Unfortunately the last time it only delayed the inevitable of the Virus’ return. In later months they will find out what the key to this formula is.