…or it totally could, if it primes T-cells to fully clear the infection, or keep it to such a low level that the viral load is minimized. HIV has a tremendous

…or it totally could, if it primes T-cells to fully clear the infection, or keep it to such a low level that the viral load is minimized. HIV has a tremendous latency period. It lurks for a long time before symptom onset. If a vaccine doesn't provide sterilizing immunity, but does prime T-lymphocytes to clear the virus, or keep it to an extremely low viral load, it would make people substantially less likely to spread the virus, or have symptomatic progression to AIDS. This is, of course, easier said than done. https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/search-hiv-prevention-vaccine https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/search-hiv-prevention-vacc...