Aids Vaccine a Must for Our Future

Aids vaccine a must?

The disease HIV/Aids has a major impact on social and economic development. Poverty is increasing in many countries as households lose one or both breadwinners to AIDS. Public services and private companies are reeling from the impact of HIV/AIDS related sickness and death among their workforce. It is highly unlikely that the disease will ever be eradicated without new scientific developments, therefore, unless great progress is made in prevention, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS will outstrip the resources available for treatment. As a qualified AIDS counselor I believe that developing an effective AIDS vaccine must be one of the highest priorities for scientific research as it will be more effective than the ongoing AIDS treatment.

At present no AIDS vaccine exists, but many possible vaccines are in the developmental and testing stages. A preventative AIDS vaccine would protect people from not only being infected with the virus but it would help boost the immune systems of those already infected and living with the disease. In a clinical trial completed in Thailand in 2009, non-human primates were used and 31% of them were successfully in not being infected with the disease. Although these figures were modest, the result proves that a vaccine can protect some people from the disease(IVAI par. 6).

The best hope for defeating AIDS lies in preventing new infections. AIDS has a staggering effect on humanity – every year more than 3 million people are infected HIV/AIDS. It is the leading cause of death in 25-44 year olds in the United States of America. It is a moral priority as it does not restrict itself to those who are promiscuous or who engage in risky behavior, but it manifests it in new born babies too. AIDS preys on children and 10% of new infections are in children. In Third World countries illiteracy and inadequate education, make it difficult to teach people about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted, therefore and AIDS vaccine is a priority to eradicate the disease(Sheperd par. 8)

An AIDS vaccine is an economic propriety too. The drugs to treat a single AIDS patient costs between $10 000.00 and $16 000.00 per year, and the life time cost is climbing rapidly. A vaccine would cost between $50.00 and $150.00 per patient immunization resulting in savings of billions per year. In undeveloped countries treat is not affordable to many and as a result they go untreated, spreading the disease as they go. A single treatment would be a more feasible solution as it would be more affordable. As they get immunized against measles and chickenpox, so they can get immunized against AIDS. This would reduce the disease significantly(Sheperd par. 12).

Charles Krauthamer, a syndicated columnist argues that developing an AIDS vaccine is a waste of time and money. He argues that it is not acquired through casual contact like coughing and sneezing, but through avoidable behaviors such as unprotected sex and injection drug use. He maintains it can be controlled by public health efforts to reduce these behaviors.(par. 1)

The President of the International Association of Physicians, Zunga, in AIDS argues that stronger social and medical infrastructure is necessary rather than drugs to transform HIV/AIDS

from a certain death sentence to a manageable disease. Developing countries physicians are often not trained in the basics of HIV/AIDS treatment and diagnosis. Antiretroviral drug therapy needs to be monitored closely as they can be dangerous to individuals. The physicians are not familiar with a phenomenon known as "drug resistance" which is when the virus replicates and adjusts to resist obstacles such as antiretroviral drugs. Zunga advises that funding should be used to educate these physicians and to build health services to monitor and

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