World's First AIDS Vaccine

Scientists found that an experimental AIDS vaccine reduced the rate of infection by about thirty percent. The vaccine is a combination ALVAC canary pox/HIV vaccine and the HIV vaccine AIDSVAX, both of which failed on their own. Researchers are unsure of why, when combined, these prove to be effective. The trial took place in Thailand and was sponsored by the U.S government. Among 16,402 volunteers over three years, the risk of infection was cut by 31.2%. However, the vaccine was only shown to protect against the infection, but did nothing to affect the virus once inside the body. "We see no commercial vaccine available for some time yet, but the prospect has finally been raised (after 30 years of trying) that an effective vaccine is possible," said Michael Leacock, an analyst at ABN AMRO research.