HIV vaccine: Historic trial begins

History will be made this week, when the first participant in a large-scale HIV vaccine trial receives a shot of the vaccine, designed to prevent a strain of HIV prevalent in southern Africa. Although vaccines are not 100% effective in every child or adult, they are the best defence against the epidemics which kill or permanently disable millions of people. And, since vaccinations are deemed among the safest forms of treatment worldwide, they far outweigh the risk of side effects. The HIV vaccine clinical trial, called the HVTN 702, involves more than 5 000 HIV-negative men and women across South Africa. A HIV-negative woman will receive her first dose at a Soweto site on Thursday. Professor Glenda Gray, president of the SA Medical Research Council, said: “If we can show that this vaccine is at least 50% efficacious, it could lead to the first licensed preventive HIV vaccine in the world. Because vaccines can...