Baltimore Sun (12.01.05) - Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Margaret I. Johnston; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci

"Cutting-edge science has led to novel vaccine approaches that have shown promise in the laboratory and in animal tests. But all this effort will be for naught if the public continues to believe myths about HIV/AIDS vaccine research.

"To conduct a meaningful, large-scale trial, tens of thousands of healthy, HIV-negative volunteers will need to roll up their sleeves and receive an experimental vaccine. Finding volunteers for vaccine trials is often daunting. But it will be nearly impossible if Americans continue to believe misinformation about HIV vaccine trials.

"According to a recently published study by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, only half of those surveyed knew that the HIV vaccines being tested could not cause HIV infection. More than half of respondents expressed skepticism about the safety measures built into vaccine trials. Equally disturbing, a majority of those surveyed reported that they would not be supportive of a friend or loved one volunteering for a preventive HIV vaccine trial.

"Such attitudes cripple vaccine trials. It is critical that communities most affected by the HIV pandemic and policy- makers inside and outside the government help dispel these myths. Credible spokesmen and women must repeat, over and over again in media trusted by the public, that volunteers in preventive vaccine trials cannot contract HIV from the vaccines being tested. The overriding importance of clinical trails, and the way in which they safeguard volunteers, must be conveyed.

"On this World AIDS Day, let us recommit ourselves to doing everything in our power to find an HIV vaccine. We must roll up our sleeves, literally and figuratively."

Johnston is director of the Vaccine and Prevention Research Program in the Division of AIDS and assistant director for HIV/AIDS vaccines at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci is director of NIAID.
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