Massachusetts: Paging HIV Vaccine Volunteers

The ninth annual commemoration of National HIV Vaccine Awareness Day will take place on May 18, and three Boston community health organizations will co-sponsor an informational session to update the public on the latest developments.

Fenway Community Health, the Multicultural AIDS Coalition and the Latin American Health Institute are hosting the event at the South End's Union United Methodist Church, 6-8 p.m. Jim Maynard, FCH's core manager for research and evaluation, said while the meeting is intended for anyone interested in the topic, attendees will also learn how they can help by volunteering for vaccine trials.

Boston is one of the sites involved in a global trial of a new vaccine, and FCH is seeking to recruit 100 men who have sex with men to take part. Currently, FCH has signed up 59 subjects; it hopes to meet its recruiting goal by year's end.

In their efforts to sign up participants, Maynard said he and other recruiters have encountered numerous misconceptions about the trials. Some people believe participants will be injected with HIV, or that the vaccine contains HIV; others think the vaccine is intended to protect those who are already HIV-positive. The vaccine is meant to prevent infection, not cure HIV, Maynard said, and it contains no HIV. Trial subjects should be nonmonogamous MSM who are sexually active.

For more information, telephone 617-927-6450 or visit www.fenwayhealth.org.

Back to other news for May 11, 2006