Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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San Francisco Examiner - February 12, 2004
Alison Soltau, Staff Writer
Recently, the federal government issued the San Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS a $20,000 grant to recruit black community members willing to test the new vaccine. But city officials are preaching to a community still mindful of the notorious Tuskegee syphilis study.
For 40 years, until 1972, the United States observed hundreds of black Alabama men, whom they knew were infected with syphilis, in order to record the progress of the disease.
The men thought they were being treated for their "bad blood," but researchers were doing nothing to treat the men's syphilis, even after penicillin had become available.
Because the experience of the Tuskegee travesty is still fresh, the black community has new worries about AIDS vaccine trials, according to Derrick Mapp, a community representative for The City's Department of Public Health.
"Their real concerns are, 'Are we going to be guinea pigs? I'm a healthy person, why would I want to stick something in me?'" Mapp said.
Health officials, however, stressed the importance of black involvement in testing vaccines, since researchers do not yet know if different ethnic groups respond differently to the HIV virus.
"We need to get over Tuskegee," said Gil Gerald, a member of the Black Coalition on AIDS. "If not enough of us are involved in research, it may not be conclusive about whether a vaccine is effective in our community."
Participants in testing the new vaccine will be given full details about the trial and its implications before they sign up, said Jennifer Sarche of the Department of Public Health.
She said that, so far, researchers had not seen any serious side effects in the trials, but, as with any medical research, there could be unknown risks.
"People know that when they sign up, but those who do chose to [participate anyway] have decided that it is the only way to try and stop this epidemic," Sarche said.
Troubling stats
African-Americans accounted for 19.5 percent or 57 new AIDS cases in San Francisco in 2003, but they make up only about 7.8 percent of The City's total population.
About 44 percent of the women infected with HIV in San Francisco are black women.
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