The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has announced that it will bankroll a $50,000 grant to fund a study to explore the reasons why attempts to develop a vaccine against HIV have failed to produce a viable one for humans.
No vaccine for HIV exists, despite billions in taxpayer funding and decades of research.
PETA is offering this funding for a researcher to conduct a systemic review of studies in which monkeys were used to test HIV vaccines and compare that data to the testing of those same vaccines in humans.
PETA neuroscientist Dr. Emily Trunnell joined All Things Considered to talk about what PETA hopes to accomplish with the study.
Trunnell said only humans contract HIV and develop AIDS, but nonhuman primates have been the go-to model for HIV research.
