[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
[March 11, 1999]
[Page 355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 355]]


Statement on Selection of the Director of the Vaccine Research Center at 
the National Institutes of Health
March 11, 1999

    I am very pleased to join Secretary of Health and Human Services 
Donna Shalala, National Institutes of 
Health Director Harold Varmus, and my AIDS 
policy office director, Sandra Thurman, in 
welcoming Dr. Gary Nabel as the first Director of 
the new Vaccine Research Center at the NIH. Dr. Nabel's long and 
distinguished career as a research scientist will be an incredible asset 
in our efforts to find preventative vaccines.
    The first order of business for Dr. Nabel 
will be the effort to develop a vaccine for HIV. This is a top priority 
of our AIDS research efforts. Here in the United States, over 40,000 
people are newly infected with HIV every year. Across the world, the 
rate is nearly 6 million people per year. These are lives in jeopardy. 
Though we have made remarkable progress in treating HIV and AIDS, there 
is still no cure. So our best hope of bringing an end to the AIDS 
pandemic is to find a safe and effective vaccine.
    I have issued a challenge to the scientific community to find an 
AIDS vaccine within the decade. We are making important strides towards 
that critical goal and the leadership of Dr. Nabel will help us progress even more. Dr. Varmus and his team of expert researchers at the NIH, 
working in collaboration with scientists from across the globe, have 
produced remarkable results in reducing AIDS mortality here and in many 
other developed nations. Their improved understanding of how HIV works 
will be invaluable in the effort to find a vaccine to prevent infection 
in the first place.
    The human tragedy of AIDS throughout the world must move all of us 
to action. The search for a vaccine for HIV must continue to be a global 
priority because millions of precious lives hang in the balance.