AIDS export says what I've been saying for ages

[yesthattom]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/12/25/aids.vaccine.ap/index.html I hate the way the world works.

Comments

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

I would wager that what the article says is true.

When I was looking for work and made inquiries at A Company That Makes Vaccines, one thing that struck me as odd was that the company in question not only had money from in house, they also got a lot of money from federal grants, similar to those that we used to apply for back in Academic Hell.

Upon more discussion with other folks, what I learned was that it's hard to get companies to fund vaccine research for two reasons... the first being that it's not a very profitable product, unlike a maintainence medication that needs to be taken for a person's whole life, a vaccine is often a -pardon the pun- one shot deal. The second reason is a bit strange.

There is a perception that vaccines are products with a very high potential for liability to the company. The adjuvants and other ingredients in a vaccine can be dangerous to small sections of the population, and that can have effects that can lead to suits that companies don't want to get near.
Personally, IMHO one way to deal with that problem would be to make a safer product.

The presence of thiomersal, a mercury derivitave, in many vaccines came about as a cost saving measure to allow packaging in vials that contain more than a single dose. This particular cost saving measure had some consequences that people are still recovering from.

I don't know how to make decisions about safety versus cost of product. I really don't. But I do know that the perception that these are high potential liability products might be a tool that could be used to get the industry to look at better testing of adjuvants, preservatives, and so called inert ingredients before anyone else does get hurt.

And please note - I am pro vaccination for just about everything and am counting the days till the HIV vaccine is here. I just want it to not hurt anyone inadvertently. I want this to be over.