>DATE : 5 February 1997
>TIME : 5:00 P.M.
>PLACE : Uris Auditorium, Cornell University Medical College,
> NYC, USA
>COURSE : Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases
>TOPIC : Challenges and Prospects for an HIV Vaccine
>SPEAKER : Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID, NIH
>BYLINE : James M. Scutero, original proponent of misc.health.aids
Lecture
[...]
FAUCI : SOCIAL AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ARE UNIQUE. This is something
that you hear about –not sure it happens– but then when you get involved
as we have been, in phase I and phase II clinical trials, about why there
are some very disturbing issues regarding the difficulties that volunteers
in an HIV vaccine trial face. First of all: SEROCONVERSION.
No matter how many pieces of paper you give to say that "I am
a vaccine volunteer" we still had trouble with people in employment,
health insurance, healthcare, military service, travel…I found out
–this was very, very humbling to me– that a piece of paper signed by me,
that says you’re a vaccine volunteer, and you test positive, does not
protect you against anything [audience laughter]; travel restrictions,
military — it doesn’t make any difference.
DISCRIMINATION. Obviously, if you volunteer for a influenza
trial, nobody is going to raise their eyebrows about you being a volunteer
for an influenza trial. But, if you volunteer to participate in a HIV
trial, you’re really subject to all of the discrimination that you might
expect that HIV infected people get, like: "Why would you want to be
involved in a HIV vaccine trial?" And, people start looking at you strangely.
Clearly discrimination…
* * *
-Giacomo
Giacomo’s Cabaret, http://www.panix.com/~jscutero