In September last year, a vacina gained prominence for managing to reduce the risk of HIV contamination in volunteers in Thailand by 31%. However, this past Friday (19/02), scientists announced that the protection it offers is only temporary.
Around a year, this is how long the vaccine's protection would last. Even though the 31% value was not that high, it was the first time that a medicine had achieved a degree of success, even if only partial.
According to the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, this is why scientists involved in the research were optimistic. According to Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, "it's been more than 20 years since all vaccines were essentially failures. It feels like we were groping our way down a dark hallway, until a door finally opened." However, from this "door" there are still obstacles.
For Colonel Nelson Michael, from the US Army's Walter Reed Institute for Research, even if the vaccine did not exceed expectations, it is still useful. "It has a weak and modest effect, but it is possible to build something from it."
Even with the limited time of protection, the vaccine – known as RV 144 – cannot be “thrown in the trash”. "Is it ideal? It's not. But there are vaccines, like the flu, that you have to take every year", concludes Nelson Michael.
