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May 28, 2003

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

“Despite Need for HIV Vaccines, Fear Mutes Call for Volunteers”

New York Times (www.nytimes.com) (05/27/03) P. F5; Villarosa, Linda

Fear of contracting HIV continues to be a major factor that discourages volunteers from participating in vaccine trials.  Despite assurances, AIDS researchers have been unsuccessful in dispelling the misconception that the virus is transmitted during the tests.  Dr. Barney Graham, director of clinical studies at the National Institutes of Health Vaccine Research Center, says healthy volunteers are especially difficult to come by because they believe they will be infected with HIV.  But what many people do not realize, according to Graham, is that “you cannot be infected with HIV [from the vaccine], because the virus was never present in the manufacturing process.”  However, it is precisely that misunderstanding that keeps people from taking part in vaccine trials, he said.  There is also a stigma attached to participating in HIV vaccine trials, as some family and friends may mistakenly think that the vaccine is being given to treat infection.  The first phase of testing involves a small number of healthy, HIV-negative volunteers, testing the vaccine's safety, while the second phase is larger and involves volunteers who are HIV-negative and at varying degrees of risk for HIV, testing the vaccine's safety and immunogenicity.  The third phase of testing involves thousands of HIV-negative volunteers who are at high-risk of infection, assessing the vaccine's safety and effectiveness over the course of several years.