Further AIDS Vaccine Research

Speaking of suppressed news, here is a report that may not see much daylight:

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The experimental AIDS vaccine that showed promise for the first time in a study released last month may have worked best in the first year. Those who benefited from the shots appear to have done so in the first 12 months and they tended to be heterosexual patients at lower risk of contracting HIV, according to details of the trial published today in the New England Journal of Medicine and released at a Paris conference... Scientists are still mystified as to how two unproven vaccines, when combined and given to more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand, appeared to cut HIV infections after three years. The study’s credibility was called into question after the journal Science said a second set of data showed the result may have been a fluke. (Simeon Bennett and Michelle Fay Cortez, "AIDS Vaccine’s Benefit May Wane After First Year," Bloomberg.com, 10/20/09)

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The initial announcements of vaccine results were, of course, trumpeted in sensationalist fashion throughout news outlets. After all, this gave hope to the community that is the primary source of the spread of HIV. I am all for the prevention and elimination of deadly viruses, and if such a vaccine discovery can be made, then kudos to them. (Imagine the squawk over the cost that such a vaccine will have; however, consider the enormous cost of the research already invested in it). I doubt that news questioning the results of those studies will receive as much front page headline.

It still appears to me that the fastest, most effective, and least expensive course of prevention is to stop engaging in immoral sexual behavior.