AEGiS-BKREV: Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and The Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine

Big Shot: Passion, Politics, and The Struggle for an AIDS Vaccine

Public Affairs, 250 West 57th St., Ste. 1321, New York, NY 10107. 515p., bibliog., index. ISBN 1-891620-88-6. $27.50.
Patricia Thomas. 2001.

This is an excellent account of the search for an AIDS vaccine since HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS in 1994. Thomas "dramatizes the controversial search for a vaccine-the players, the politics, the money-in a vivid, suspenseful story that reveals how science is done, and not done, in America today." Treatments have moved quickly but finding a vaccine has been a slow process. Vaccines are a biological product with each custom-made to protect against a specific disease. "Social attitudes toward AIDS, careerism and timidity among bureaucrats, and corporate anxieties about profits and liability have all been roadblocks to vaccine research and development." Unfortunately, this has placed the search for an AIDS vaccine on the back burner and until very recently only 10 percent of federal spending on AIDS went towards developing a vaccine.

This books does a great job, bringing to our attention all of the struggles among scientists, corporate executives, bureaucrats, and military officers who are frustrated in the quest for a vaccine. This is a book for the general reader. It is highly recommended for all public libraries as well as academic libraries.

Keywords: Vaccines; Popular Works
020130
BK021117

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