What are the basic facts about HIV vaccines?
There are several important things you need to know about HIV vaccines. • HIV vaccines being tested in humans do not contain HIV and cannot cause HIV. • If HIV vaccine trial participants engage in behaviors that expose them to HIV, they may become infected with HIV. In your capacity as a prevention worker, it is important for you to continue to stress the importance of comprehensive risk-reduction strategies that will reduce the risk of HIV infection, just as you would with others in the community. • At present, there is not an HIV vaccine. Contrary to what some people in the community may think, an HIV vaccine is not currently available. Research is underway to find a safe and effective vaccine that will protect people from being infected with HIV, but it will continue to take more time until a promising vaccine is discovered. • How does an HIV vaccine affect someone’s seropositive status? Some HIV vaccines stimulate the production of antibodies against multiple HIV proteins. Since st
