Erika, you are so inefficient. You had to interview two people to get pro and con views on the likelihood of an HIV vaccine. I got both sides from one person, Dr. Peggy Johnston, Director of the Vaccine and Prevention Research Program at NIAID. I asked her whether it was possible that we might never have a vaccine. “Yes, that’s possible,” she said. But she was also optimistic that the vaccine campaign would succeed.

Johnston’s explanations left me with the conclusion that this is the most difficult vaccine challenge in history, partly because of the evasive behavior of the virus (as you said) and partly because no one knows the proper balance of humoral and cell-mediated immunity to stimulate. Or how to stimulate it. That’s when I asked her about the possibility of – wait for it – failure.

I’m not just writing this to demonstrate the superiority of old guys (though that’s always fun), but to make a point. No one knows whether there will ever be an HIV vaccine. Anyone who says otherwise is either ignorant or dishonest. Or an administrator. They get a pass on reality.

Erika, you are so inefficient. You had to interview two people to get pro and con views on the likelihood of an HIV vaccine. I got both sides from one person, Dr. Peggy Johnston, Director of the Vaccine and Prevention Research Program at NIAID. I asked her whether it was possible that we might never have a vaccine. “Yes, that’s possible,” she said. But she was also optimistic that the vaccine campaign would succeed.

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