US scientists scrap major AIDS vaccine test (AFP)

A doctor retrieves a blood sample from a man for an HIV test in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 2006. US scientists have scrapped plans for a large trial of a HIV vaccine due to concerns about its effectiveness, the government's medical research agency said.(AFP/File/Elmer Martinez) WASHINGTON (AFP) - US scientists have scrapped plans for a large trial of a HIV vaccine due to concerns about its effectiveness, the government's medical research agency said. The decision on the government-developed vaccine comes less than a year after a trial for a similar vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Merck failed -- marking another setback in the decades-long struggle to develop a successful vaccine to fight the scourge of AIDS. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the government's National Institutes... [read full story]