The search for an HIV vaccine

The day the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus was announced in 1984, the then US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler forecast that a vaccine against the newly-discovered virus should not be too difficult to develop. She said: “We hope to have such a vaccine ready for testing in approximately two years…yet another terrible disease is about to yield to patience, persistence and outright genius".

A quarter-century later, HIV vaccine researchers are still looking for a vaccine that would offer any degree of protection against HIV infection and the majority are no longer prepared to guess when one might be available.

Updates - September 2009

Vaccine reduces risk of HIV infection by one-third in large trial.
An unpopular vaccine study produces surprising result.
Vaccine trial "is the beginning" of a new path of research, says US health chief.
US activist group urges caution on vaccine trial results.

October 2009

Thai HIV vaccine study: modest effect is real, argue researchers

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