A Canadian-developed vaccine to prevent HIV has been given the green light for testing in human clinical trials.

The vaccine, developed by researchers at the University of Western Ontario, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start being tested in humans in January.

It is the first preventive HIV vaccine approved for clinical trials to use a whole HIV-1 virus, which has been both killed and genetically engineered, to activate immunity. In this way, the new vaccine is much like the killed whole virus vaccines that are successful against polio, rabies and influenza.

Other HIV vaccines currently in clinical human trials have largely focused on one specific component of HIV to trigger an immune response. Right now, there is no effective HIV vaccine.

“FDA approval for human clinical trials is an extremely significant milestone for our vaccine, which has the potential to save the lives of millions of people around the world by preventing HIV infection,” said Dr. Chil-Yong Kang, professor of virology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, in a release.

The announcement was made Tuesday morning in London.

The vaccine, the only HIV vaccine being developed in Canada, received funding from Sumagen Canada, a company created in 2008 to support the development of the vaccine.

Previous studies have shown the vaccine triggers a strong immune response and has yet to show any adverse effects or safety risks.

I applaud the intent, but I'd hate to be part of the group pitching the test to potential volunteers.

"Okay, we're going to administer this shot, and then in the next room you'll find some HIV+ trannies."

No one is gonna get a shot and go **** a tranny. That's what heroin is for.

They already know this thing kills HIV. What they don't know is how it will affect the human body. That's what the trials are for; you get injected and studied to see if there are any side-effects. No one is gonna get a shot and go **** a tranny. That's what heroin is for.

Should the SAV001 be proven safe, the vaccine will enter the second phase of clinical trials, in which it will be tested on 600 HIV-negative volunteers at high risk for HIV infection. Researchers will measure the volunteers’ immune response to the vaccine.

The third and final phase would enroll 6,000 HIV-negative volunteers at high risk for the disease. The participants, half of whom would be vaccinated and half un-vaccinated, would be tracked for three years to see how many in each group became infected with HIV.

They're no more irresponsible and horny than straight males, they just have an easier time finding sex partners.

A vaccine would not make anyone more promiscuous. That's a terrible argument.