Another promising idea in HIV prevention dies

There's sad news from the HIV prevention front: trials of an experimental vaccine against HIV have been suspended in the wake of an interim data analysis suggesting it's not really effective.

Per the NIH's press release, the vaccine hasn't been shown to alter either the predisposition to or course of HIV infection in human subjects. There's no mention of any harm to participants, and it's worth noting that the vaccine itself is formed of synthetically produced bits of HIV-like viral material incapable of causing actual HIV infection.

Vaccine development has long been one of the holy grails of HIV research. Although I don't think many people were really expecting success at this stage, it's always disappointing when another promising idea in HIV prevention dies.

Sorry, righties, but we're going to have to keep going with the sexual education and the condoms. At least for the time being.

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......So, you think the righties are disappointed?

I think people differ greatly on this issue. For example, if it were completely unidentifiable as my own, I would have no problem with a picture of my naked ass being posted on the Internet. Others would be absolutely horrified by the prospect.

Signout reader named Benjamin Langer, who himself has a very nice critical piece on intelligent design in the current edition of SCQ.