Friday - September 25, 2009

Why We've Been Ignoring the AIDS Vaccine Story  @1:50 PM

· AIDS Vaccine "Important Step" Against Disease (Reuters)
· AIDS Vaccine Trial Offers Hope (The Advocate)
· For First Time, AIDS Vaccine Shows Some Success (New York Times)
· HIV vaccine breakthrough (Sydney Herald)
· Vaccine Shows Promise in Preventing HIV Infection (Wall Street Journal)
· Scientists Puzzle Over Minor Success Of AIDS Vaccine (Washington Post)

Oh wait—sorry, what's that, Washington Post? "The results were barely significant on statistical grounds, perplexing for scientific reasons and unanticipated by most researchers." 10

Thursday - August 6, 2009

What Can't Bill Clinton Do These Days?  @1:06 PM

The Clinton Foundation announced today they'd gotten those monsters at Pfizer and Mylan to lower the cost of some drugs for TB and HIV in the "developing world" to just, in the case of TB, $1 a dose. (That'll go over really well in countries like Haiti, where the average individual income is something like $1 or $2 a day.). But still—something that should have happened actually happened! READ MORE 8

Friday - July 10, 2009

26 Awesome People Arrested, Released In Capitol Building Protest  @10:35 AM


You know who are actually American heroes? The 26 people arrested yesterday in support of needle exchange legalization. Obama's platform has always been pro-needle exchange, but when he submitted the budget back in May, it still included the old language banning spending on needle exchange. The White House's last statement was that they wanted to handle this legislatively and also to build public consensus on needle exchange. Since then: nada. And that is extra-stupid: public health is way outside the realm of man-on-the-street approval ratings. There are 20 years of needle exchange studies and that the White House is back-burnering this is outrageous—and way more outrageous than back-burnering Don't Ask Don't Tell. (Though it is less sexy than DADT. I mean who doesn't like seeing the hot gay soldiers on the T.V.? Except when you remember that they are all in the killing business. But whatever!) 3

Wednesday - April 29, 2009

Miley Cyrus, In A World Without AIDS  @8:43 PM

Regarding the World Health Organization raising its pandemic level to "OMG OMG FREAK OUT" level this afternoon, Rod Townsend notes: "Can you imagine if they had reacted in such a manner to AIDS? There would be art and music and fashion in the world. And Miley Cyrus would be working at a McDonald's in Branson, Missouri." 5