New HIV Vaccine Important for Health Care Debate

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The BBC reports that an experimental HIV vaccine was given to about 8,200 Thai men and women–the remaining 8,200 getting a placebo.  The experiment was conducted by the United States army and the Thai government over a period of three years.  It was the largest study of its kind.  Apparently, after three years, 74 people in the placebo group were HIV positive, while only 51 people in the vaccine group were infected.  So, it’s possible to conclude that the vaccine may reduce the risk of HIV infection by about 30%.  Does that seem like good odds to you?  It seems like good odds to me–and it’s definitely something to be excited about.

And what angers me most about this whole “health care debate” in the United States is that so many people are talking about money–and not very many people are actually talking about health.  Yes, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies make a so-called “killing” with their wallet-busting prices, and it’s incredibly important to enact a system that would take all of the power out of their hands.  In which case, a single payer, universal health care system seems like the best option to me.  If the States would ever adopt such a system is beyond me, since there is obviously so much lobbying power behind these huge corporations.  But if the public option will at least get people talking about universal health care then at least it’s a start.  Of all the things for the US government to be spending its money on, does it not make sense to spend its money on the people who pay its taxes and dwell in its cities and towns?

For those of you who are angry/irate about the public option mandate for people who can afford it–get over it.  The HIV study conducted by the US government in Thailand was only focused on the effectiveness of the prospective vaccine, and it only lasted three years.  It did not focus on how the small minority of people in the study contracted HIV and whether or not they infected others with HIV.  This is how this thing spread–exponentially.  And you have to realize that all this buzz talk about “freedom” and “independence” and “individuality” is nonsense; because there is no one on this earth who isn’t connected to someone else.  Cold and flu season should teach you a thing or two about just about independent we all really are.  Your health is not your own health–your health also includes the health of people in your home, your neighborhood, your community, your city, your state, and so on…  If diseases are allowed to continue to spread without any means of preventing them or combating them, then I believe that a major epidemic is only a matter of time.  Initiatives such as the public option and (potentially) Universal Health Care could help mitigate the effects.