Reply #212: I would prefer this vaccine and an HIV vaccine be 'eased' into the general population.

[Avalux]

I worked on a very large placebo-controlled Phase III HIV vaccine trial years ago (GP160). It was given to those already infected with HIV in the hopes it would halt viral replication - 2 and a half years and millions of dollars later, we found it did the opposite. Needless to say, GP160 didn't go any further; we halted the study immediately.

For the past 20 years I have been involved in Infectious Diseases research and I've seen a trend recently towards rushing products to market before sufficient safety studies are done - that's why I have apprehension about this vaccine. I just don't think it's ready to be given to millions of young girls. We don't even know if a 9 year old will need a booster when she's 14 - there's not enough data. The fact that GSK has their own competitive vaccine about ready to go to the FDA lends credence to my belief there was a rush in this case. First company to get their product established as 'mandatory' wins.