HIV :: Surprising attitudes towards HIV vaccine research

A survey of U.S. adults has found that a majority believe that HIV vaccines are the best hope for controlling the global AIDS epidemic and are confident such vaccines can be made.

But while most of those surveyed felt it personally important to help support HIV vaccine research, a majority expressed reluctance to support a friend or family member?s participation in an HIV vaccine clinical trial.

These were among the conflicting findings of a telephone survey of more than 3,500 adults to assess attitudes, knowledge and awareness of HIV vaccine research in the United States.

The survey, conducted by members of the HIV Vaccine Communications Campaign of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, points to the ongoing challenges HIV vaccine researchers face.