For the First Time Ever, an HIV Vaccine Shows Success in Trial
After over 25 years of failed formulas, an HIV vaccine has, for the first time, displayed the ability to confer some immunity against the virus. Deployed in a clinical trial in Thailand, the vaccine managed to prevent infection in a significant minority of volunteers. However, scientists involved in the study caution that they cannot fully explain the success, and that the vaccine only worked in a portion of those who received it. Even this small success is cause for celebration. Until now, no vaccine has even worked in the slightest, so any protection, even if only amongst a minority of recipients, represents a major breakthrough. The clinical trial involved 16,402 volunteers, half of whom received vaccine doses in 2006. After three years of monitoring for HIV, 74 of the volunteers who got the placebo contracted the virus, as compared with 51 of those who got...