No HIV vaccine in sight
After more than 20 years, we still don't understand the virus well enough to produce a vaccine.
According to Anthony Fauci, more laboratory work is needed to underpin HIV vaccine science and costly and ineffective clinical trails must be stopped for the time being. This was said recently at a vaccine summit in the USA this week.
So far, all clinical trials of HIV vaccines have shown the vaccine to be at best ineffective at preventing infection and at worst to slightly increase the recipient's chances of contracting the virus. Why this should be the case is not clear.
Scientists gathered at the summit effectively said that we need to go back to the drawing board and that means back to the laboratory.
Nearly 30 potential AIDS vaccines are being tested on people around the world. Some AIDS advocacy groups have criticized U.S. spending on the vaccine effort. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation this week said suspending US funding for a vaccine and investing in strategies that save lives and stop new infections would be the wisest and most effective use of limited public resources.
Many scientists at Tuesday's meeting called for more research on animals, saying that nonhuman primates such as rhesus and macaque monkeys could serve as valuable stand-ins for human subjects.
