Australian COVID vaccine cancelled after Phase I trials produced false positive HIV test results!

[thewayne]

Not exactly something you want to see in a vaccine!

From the article:
"The (vaccine's) molecular clamp is made from a HIV protein, which on its own is harmless. The molecular clamp stabilizes the coronavirus spike protein and presents it to the body in a way that promotes a good immune response. This is why the clamp technology is so vital," Taylor said.

He added that the clamp model vaccine had shown "good safety and immune response" against the coronavirus in early clinical trials, and the possibility for generating an HIV positive result had been thought to be low.

Yeah. Apparently not as low as they'd thought!

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/10/australia/australia-vaccine-hiv-intl-hnk/index.html

Comments

[lxe]

1/ "Queer" is redundant here (compare: "you only pay a lot of income tax if you are a business owner or have a lot of income"; not all business owners are rich, and vice versa; the inference is itself a misleading stereotype).

Other than that, I'd love to know how much relevant exchange of bodily fluids with other people is neither emergency circumstances (rape victim, blood transfusion, etc.) nor a behavioral risk. When I was young, learning (*) that HIV doesn't transmit e.g. via air/droplets or brief indirect skin contact was a part of destereotyping and destigmatizing AIDS ("you won't be at risk of infection just because you get in the same room; it's safe to be in the same room").

Was (*) wrong?

2/ "Some technology might mistakenly assume A or B about you" is exactly a stereotype away from "our, or someone else's, technology will make you A or B".

I-131 radiosurgery produces false positive alarms at airports. The solution, for
all the "air terrorist" stigma, is giving affected people proper warning and documentation.