“According to the organisations, the vaccine successfully stimulated the production of the rare immune cells needed to generate antibodies against HIV in 97 percent of participants.”
The 97 percent is not protection from HIV. It is the share of vaccinated volunteers, in a 48-person trial, who made the right precursor cells. This is only the first step of a multi-step regimen that nobody has built yet. The headline number is real. The vaccine is not.