Review of Vaccine Failure Prompts a Return to Basics

BETHESDA, MARYLAND—It may be a stretch to call it a turning point, as one optimist did, but a 1-day AIDS vaccine meeting held here last week undoubtedly marked a low point. Some of the more than 200 gloomy researchers gathered in a hotel conference room were grumbling about a recent newspaper story in which AIDS researcher Robert Gallo compared last year's failure of a major AIDS vaccine trial to the Challenger space shuttle disaster. During lunch, an AIDS activist group called for an end to all AIDS vaccine research and testing.