Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - Sunday June 29, 2003
Claire Keeton
The South African Aids Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) has taken a number of steps to prevent problems in its upcoming trial.
"We have stressed the need to adhere to the highest ethical standards as there is the danger of people in the developing world being used as guinea-pigs, " said the Director-General of Health, Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, who also chairs SAAVI's steering committee.
HIV/Aids organisations fear that the hope of a vaccine could undermine their efforts to promote safe sex.
Participants could also suffer from financial or legal prejudice if they tested HIV-positive from the vaccine.
"This would be a false positive, from the antibodies from the vaccine, and we have already come to an agreement with the insurance industry to make sure participants can insist on a test for the virus itself [rather than the usual test for antibodies]," said SAAVI's Patricia Southwood.
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