Studies have also shown that people with higher viral loads are more likely to transmit HIV to others. Lower levels of virus are thus beneficial to the individual, because they predict longer AIDS-free survival, and to overall public health, because they may reduce the rate of transmission. Some HIV controllers are able to maintain levels of virus that are so low that they are termed “undetectable,” these individuals have been described in the literature as elite controllers or elite suppressors.
HIV is already non-fatal due to antiretroviral therapies. So, this vaccine won't necessarily result in an increase in the number of HIV+ people (who are alive). But even if it does, I still believe it's better than no vaccine at all. Curing HIV (as in, eliminating it completely) from a controller is no harder than curing it in a non-controller. Right now both are impossible, but that may change.
