Finding Six: What About A Vaccine

Finding Six: A Vaccine Is Right Around The Corner?

Another favored proposal was an increased effort to develop a vaccine. Much of the public has faith that the scientific community will release a vaccine shortly, and if not, it must be because of either lack of funds, or reluctance from drug companies. Experts also showed support for the vaccine initiative, but to a lesser degree than the public. They emphasized the concern that funding may be siphoned from HIV prevention.

Putting more money into a vaccine received strong support from people, perhaps because vaccines have historically been a key component in strategies for eradicating disease. Some even believed that finding a vaccine should take precedence over increased education, either because they felt that current education efforts are sufficient or because they had tremendous faith in the scientific community to have a breakthrough. Experts also supported funding for a vaccine but were quick to point out the need for prevention efforts as well.

One man in Birmingham summed up what many people were thinking by saying, “my goodness, we’ve been educating for 20, 30 years, and I believe in continuing education, but maybe you need to stray from that... Continue education, but I’d say put more of the dollars into research and the vaccine, just like cancer. Let’s cure it one day.”

A man from Westchester saw advances in science overall as evidence that progress on a vaccine could and should be made. His point was that “if you look at our science, and how far we[‘ve] come from quantum theory, quantum physics and everything we’re doing…I believe we should [educate] as well, but it sounds like we’re settling…I think we should never stop working till there’s a vaccine to eradicate something like we beat the plague.”

And some were certain that the wherewithal to create a vaccine already existed but that pharmaceutical companies were directly responsible for delays in progress. In New York, people focused on the profitability of current anti-retroviral drugs. One man thought that “if they find a cure, then there’s no money coming into those pharmaceutical companies that are making the AZTs, making all those drugs for people that have AIDS.” He went on to say that “they’re getting money as long as there’s still AIDS in the world, so why—what’s the advantage of finding a cure for AIDS?”

We should note, that though there was widespread support for a vaccine, a few participants took steps to say that it is not a good idea to put all of your faith in it. Money, they said, should still go toward other ways to address the issue.

Some recognized that research takes time. In Des Moines, a man pointed out that “research can be 20, 30, 40 years. We don’t know,” so he thought that “initially, maybe you need to take a greater sum or greater percentage of that money available and pump it into education, knowing that that may carry you a lot farther than research might.”

While experts supported research in vaccine development, they ultimately emphasized the need for prevention strategies. In the words of one leader of a national public health organization, “[W]e have to reenergize the prevention focus. If you don’t have a cure—just like every other ‘chronic’ disease—the best way to get your hands around the chronic disease is to prevent the disease, whether it’s diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease or HIV/AIDS.” This sentiment was echoed by a state legislator who thought that “if you can prevent people from ever getting a disease, finding a cure becomes less of an issue.”

Unlike the public, experts also made a clear distinction between a vaccine and a cure. One government HIV advisory board member thought that “vaccines are a good way of [dealing with the epidemic]—it’s not a cure, but it’s the next best thing.”

The experts also pointed out the technical challenges involved in developing a vaccine. One expert working in vaccine research told us that a vaccine is not going to be available in the near future. He explains that “HIV is a challenging target. To begin with, it hasn’t been [around] that long…. Generally, if you look at the development of vaccines over time, it takes a long time. It’s not a surprise really that we don’t have a vaccine yet.”

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