Shots in the Dark: The Wayward Search for an AIDS Vaccine

In 1984 Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announced that an AIDS vaccine would be ready for testing in two years. Since then, nearly 60 million persons worldwide have been infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and only one vaccine, containing the gp120 surface protein of the virus, has made it to a large-scale, phase three efficacy field trial. This text explains the reasons for this intolerably slow progress, despite the great advances that have been made in biotechnology, genetics and immunology.