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Debate Over Vaccines Against HIV

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Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

July 26, 2002
Posted to the web July 26, 2002

London

A report in the London-based "New Scientist" magazine warns that the development of vaccines to combat the HIV virus that causes AIDS may actually lead to more deaths, due to people gaining a false sense of security. "New Scientist" reports that a fierce debate is raging over how - or even if - vaccines should be used.

It is estimated that 450 million US dollars is being spent on developing vaccines against HIV. By the end of next year the Californian biotechnology company, VaxGen, should publish the results of its phase III trials in Thailand of its HIV vaccine AIDSVAX, leading to speculation that a vaccine may be available by 2005. However, many scientists believe that the chance of VaxGen's vaccine working are "virtually nil".

Another vaccine is being developed at Oxford, England, and is undergoing trials in Kenya. There are hopes that this vaccine will be more effective than VaxGen's, with the University of Oxford stating that they would be happy if the vaccine turned out to be 50 percent effective. However, the researchers argue that the vaccine might also slow down the disease in people who are already infected. Not only would infected people live longer, but they would also be less infectious to others.

"New Scientist" points out that the first vaccines to be approved almost certainly will not work very well, preventing fewer than half of the people who receive them becoming infected, with this limited protection perhaps only lasting a few years.

The magazine warns that such vaccines could make HIV spread even faster by giving vaccinated people a false, and potentially fatal, sense of security.

Despite these widespread misgivings, the World Health Organisation is keen to push ahead with vaccines. Writing in a medical journal, the head of the WHO/UNAIDS vaccination programme, Jose Esparza, stated that 260 million at-risk people should be given a vaccine within five years. However, this is an optimistic figure, as a study by WHO/UNAIDS itself has shown that less than one in five of the target group would undergo a full course of three injections and a booster, mainly due to poor health services in the countries concerned.

A lack of health care already results in two million children under the age of five dying every year from diseases that existing vaccines could prevent.

Measles kills 800,000 children a year, deaths that could be avoided by giving a vaccine that costs only 11 US cents a shot There is a great deal of pessimism over HIV vaccines, but "New Scientist" offers one glimmer of hope. It states that vaginal creams are being developed with microbicides that block the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

For women with partners who refuse to use condoms, a cheap cream could be a lifesaver.

Latest figures suggest that about 12.2 per cent of Mozambicans aged between 15 and 49 are infected with HIV. In the centre of the country it is estimated that there is a 16.5 per cent infection rate, with the south suffering a 13.2 per cent infection rate. The prevalence of the virus is less in the northern three provinces, where 5.7 per cent of the sexually active population is infected.