HIV/AIDS VACCINE TEST RESULTS: A “CATASTROPHE” LIKE “THE CHALLENGER DISASTER”

That was the somber evaluation of the latest AIDS vaccine test results by Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the HIV virus at a recent AIDS conference in Boston.

Ronald C. Desrosiers, a molecular geneticist at Harvard University explained, "None of the products currently in the pipeline has any reasonable chance of being effective in field trials. We simply do not know at the present time how to design a vaccine that will be effective against HIV."

Two major studies have had to be stopped because the vaccine being tested put the subjects at higher risk of infection than the unvaccinated, an unexpected outcome.

For a readable overview of the vaccines themselves, the testing process, and the deeply disappointing results, see this news story from the Washington Post. 

[“Vaccine Failure Is Setback in AIDS Fight,” Washington Post, 03-21-08, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032003398.html?wpisrc=newsletter; POSTED: MAR 21, 2008, www.abstinence.net]