HIV is cashflow and jobs for a lot of LGBTQXYZ.
A lot of people will lose out when a vaccine becomes available, and undermining our expectations for progress on a vaccine is the first step in delaying a vaccine.
I have done some short items on how there could be opposition to HIV vaccines and cures. Nature magazine actually had an article about how to deal with opposition to an HIV vaccine.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-022-00050-4
Nature is one of the two most authoritative science magazines in the English-speaking world. I will put the links to my two earlier articles about resistance to accepting vaccines and a cure at the end of this post.
The person giving this lecture isn’t having her personal sex life slowed down by HIV. I suppose in some marginal minor way she might claim it does, but she isn’t a Gay man.
Click on the link above, this below, is a screen capture.
Before I start reviewing this article in depth, I want to point out one thing, quoting from the article:
Covid vaccines were produced within less than a year, as unprecedented amounts of money and expertise were dedicated toward their development. [Boldface added.]
Where there is a will there is a way. With Moderna their mRNA vaccine Phase I safety trials have already started.
I would like to point out two things about her lecture.
1. Why isn’t she talking about how the development of the HIV vaccine can be accelerated?
2. Why does this speaker make the assumption that “an unprecedented amounts of money and expertise” wouldn’t be allocated for a HIV vaccine?
What are we, chopped liver? It is this statement that tends to tell you how much priority she expects to be done for an HIV cure and that the lack of an aggressive program to find a vaccine seems reasonable to her.
The fact is that a lot of groups, periodicals, businesses stand to face the loss of major cash flows if an HIV vaccine is available.
Those full-page color ads in your LGBTQXYZ publication, won’t be necessary to sell Prep and HIV medications as the number of people vaccinated go up and HIV case-loads trend down and even more if there is a cure.
All those social welfare groups teaching safe-sex, handing out pamphlets, providing support, doing psychological counseling, and other services won’t be necessary. These are social welfare groups which if they have many Gays involved usually have the type of Gays who are social worker types.
The companies selling Prep and HIV medications will have some market, but greatly reduced markets for these profitable products.
There will be lots and lots of people who have serious huge serious monetary interest in an HIV vaccine being delayed as long as possible and not being that effective.
There will be other types of opposition from certain segments of the Gay community, such as the Respectability Gays who wish Gay life could be toned down and that we all get married, adopt a child, and live behind a white picket fence. The Gays who worry what the straight people think will not be happy is Gay sexual liberation starts being in full swing.
The LGBTQXYZ political establishments will find Gay life embarrassing.
Finally, anti-Gay religious groups will realize that a Gay community not weighed down by the issue of HIV is going to be a Gay community that is much more able to fight back. The anti-Gays won’t be able to use HIV to scare people and to mobilize people against the Gay life.
The various organizations out there aren’t the organizations of Gay men, but instead are “queer” groups, or LGBTQ+ groups or some other type of Alphabet Soup. They have multiple agendas. The interests of the letter “G” tends to be lost in the shuffle.
So, if we do have problems in the expeditious development of an HIV vaccine, we could face opposition from groups with a vested interest in taking time to get a vaccine, but also, the lack of support of the queer/LGBTQXYX groups.
SO HOW MIGHT THEY DELAY IT?
1. One way is indicated by the Bloomberg article above. Underfund and under mobilize the effort to get a vaccine. Don’t take a major effort.
2. Make sure the safety testing is dragged out as long as possible. Now a vaccine can be unsafe, as the Dengue vaccine debacle in the Philippines has shown, however, you can always ask for more testing and fret over any concerning development.
3. Bring up ethical problems when certain studies are done. Maybe the group being vaccinated is a marginal group and you can claim they are being exploited. The group might be male prostitutes working somewhere and would greatly benefit, but you can “raise issues.” The potential for self-righteous nit picking is great.
4. Based on the fear that with an HIV vaccination Gays might engage in sex that puts them at risk for other STDs, require a 11-hour video training and passing a test before getting vaccinated. Have a $50 dollar fee for the training.
5. Make sure it is as expensive as possible.
6. Require a physical beforehand or some type of testing on the basis of avoiding some risk of getting vaccinated no matter how small.
7. Require an HIV test within the last 30 days. Don’t want to give a vaccine if you already have HIV. Was testing done for risk factors in this situation?
8. Preclude some Gays from getting it on the basis of them being in some high-risk group for complications however unlikely.
9. When the vaccine is available don’t have a really aggressive program to get people vaccinated.
10. In the name of protecting the Gay community make sure any rare side effect gets lots of news coverage, maybe have moratorium on vaccinations until there is a full investigation. Make sure every possible, but not verified, reports of side effects get coverage.
11. In the name of inclusion and letting all community voices be heard, provide platforms for anti-vaxxers in LGBTQXYZ media.
Delaying tactics can be more than one of the items in the above list.
I am sure other means might be thought of. It shouldn’t be though that delaying and blocking tactics will be done with those do these tactics conscious of their techniques.
COUNTER MEASURES
1. Volunteer to be a subject for the vaccination research. You will help get the research project progress. You will be vaccinated in the safety trials or you might be vaccinated or not in the double-blind trials. This however, is not going to be a way of getting the Gay community in general vaccinated, but this is a very limited opportunity. Maybe they are getting all the volunteers they want.
2. If possible, visit another jurisdiction to get a vaccination. Perhaps over a state line or a day trip into Canada or Mexico. This of course will be an option only for a few, but I am going to list all options.
3. Track the progress of vaccine development and roll out and if it is deficient write letters to elected representatives in the federal government. Don’t write to the local LGBTQXYZ groups, you will be wasting your time.
4. Be openly critical of any of your local groups or national LGBTQ+ groups that directly or indirectly be delaying the development or roll out of the vaccine.
5. When the HIV vaccine is available get it right away to set an example for others.
6. Mobilize groups for the cure and for the vaccine just like they do with breast cancer.
SUMMARY
I can say for sure that there will be actions delaying the HIV vaccine, but I think we need to be alert. This article going on at length on how it will take a long, long time I think is lowering expectations and undermining any possible effort to make a push for an HIV vaccine.
There are three major groups which stand to have serious adverse effects from an HIV vaccine.
1. The HIV industry of social services and pharmaceuticals in the lost of jobs and cash flow.
2. The Respectability Gays in seeing the revival of Gay sexual liberation.
3. The Christian right facing a greatly strengthen Gay community and the loss of an anti-Gay scare tool.
Some people may think that this article is imagining problems that won’t exist. Let’s hope so, but this article in Bloomberg displays a concerning attitude towards getting an HIV vaccine quickly.
It is free.