Optimism Over AIDS Vaccine; Obama to Chair Security Council Meeting; Many Unemployed Still Not Finding Jobs
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That bring us around to the top of the hour -- it's 8:00 Eastern on Thursday, September, the 24th. Thanks for joining us on the "Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.</s>KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We have a lot going on this morning. Big stories we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. First, for the first time ever, researchers are saying that they've developed an experimental vaccine that successfully cuts the risk of infection from HIV -- development that is really, really exciting for many in the medical field. They didn't even know if this day would ever come. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is going to be taking a look at these clinical trials, and also, how the vaccine could impact of thousands volunteers who use it.</s>ROBERTS: A historic meeting and a global cause. In just over an hour, President Obama will become the first U.S. president ever to chair a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, and he'll be pushing countries around the world to ditch their nukes. So, just how hard of a sell is that going to be? Some answers for you -- just ahead.</s>CHETRY: Also, meet the rock stars of science. Some of your favorite musicians are playing for a new cause, trying to raise awareness on scientific research for things like Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS, that could lead to millions of lives saved. There's an all-star roster in the nation's capital and today, we are thrilled to have with us, Aerosmith's lead guitarist, Joe Perry. Well, for the first time in more than two decades, researchers have developed the vaccine that reduces the risk of infection from the AIDS virus. This experimental vaccine was used in a clinical trial on thousands of volunteers in Thailand, and researchers say that it cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by nearly a third. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us from Philadelphia this morning. And as I said, this study is generating a lot of excitement. Is that excitement justified in your opinion, Sanjay?</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think it is absolutely justified. You know, I've been reporting on HIV/AIDS stories for a long time now, and I didn't know if I'd get a chance to report a story like this one, Kiran. There was a lot of pessimism about the idea that a vaccine would be in the cards for HIV/AIDS. There have been two large vaccine trials in the past. One didn't work at all. The second one, possibly, actually increased someone's risk of developing the infection. So you can understand the pessimism there. That gives you a little bit of context, walking into some of the news that's coming out just this morning over the last several hours, showing exactly what you said -- that a vaccine is, in fact, possible. Showing a modest improvement, but more importantly, showing proof of principle. Take a look at some of the numbers here. Sixteen thousand people, as you mentioned, overall, in the study. These people considered high-risk for developing an HIV infection. About half of them, about 8,200 received a placebo, no vaccine. The other half received the vaccine, which was a series of six shots over six months. They were all studied three years later and that's what they found there. Take a look. Seventy-four people in the placebo group developing the infection as compared to 51 in the vaccine group. Now, you may look at the numbers and say, well, that doesn't seem like it's that big a deal. But overall, it's about a third reduction in the likelihood of developing the infection if you receive the vaccine. And the researchers say that's significant enough to show that a vaccine is possible. Again, Kiran, that alone is a big deal. You know, people, before the study came out saying, we just didn't know if a vaccine was going to be the answer.</s>CHETRY: Yes, it is. It's interesting and it's certainly notable that this is moving forward right now and that it's a big, big optimistic step forward. I mean, obviously, you want to get better than 30 percent, but still, a huge step. The other interesting thing that we noted was that the Department of Defense was involved in this research. Why was that?</s>GUPTA: Well, you know, it's interesting. If you look at infectious diseases, including ones like HIV, in many ways, they are considered potential national security threats. You can change the economies of countries; you can change the health systems of countries, simply by an infection like this. You also have the concern about people, you know, troops overseas and domestically being at risk for the infection. So these were who reasons that the Department of Defense, the army, specifically has been involved with this for some time. The numbers are -- you know, they're still staggering if you think about it, Kiran. And again, we've been reporting on this for a long time, but 33 million people around the world right now living with HIV. Over 2 million people still die every year of the infection. Obviously, there are places in the country, places in the world that are much harder hit. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, takes the largest brunt of all this. But, again, the idea that you might be able to give a series of shots to people and those series of shots would either modestly or hopefully one day greatly reduce their chance of getting the infection is what has the medical community here so excited.</s>CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Sanjay for us this morning -- great to talk to you about this situation. Thanks.</s>ROBERTS: Here in New York City, in just over two hours, President Obama will lead a historic meeting of the United Nations Security Council, and the only thing on the agenda is a call for a world without nuclear weapons.</s>CHETRY: Right. And it's the first time ever that an American president is chairing a Security Council meeting. This was since the body was created back in 1946. So, for more on this, we have with us today our Suzanne Malveaux, White House correspondent, and our foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty. Thanks to both of you for being with us again today. So, let's start with you, Suzanne. We talk about a lot of pressure and all the things that the president has to do, and now, chairing this Security Council meeting on a huge issue like trying to rein in nuclear weapons. How important is this today for him?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's very important, but this is the one thing that they actually knew that they were going to get out of these two days of meetings here, because this is something that was kind of precooked, if you will. But it's significant, it's a big deal, because, essentially, these world leaders are getting together and they're saying, "We're going to cut down on our nuclear arsenals. We're going to make sure that Iran is held accountable in terms of sanctions if it doesn't comply, if it continues to defy the will of the international community." One thing it doesn't do and that they would have liked is to say, "We'll do additional sanctions against Iran if they don't comply later." I talked to a White House aide this morning who said, "Look, well, you know, we'll see how Iran behaves. We'll see what happens." There are going to be direct talks. They're going to be taking place on October 1st. That will be really critical, very important. Not at the level of these leaders, but certainly underneath and we'll see if they have any kind of progress that they can make.</s>ROBERTS: Nonproliferation, Jill, is certainly important when it comes to a country like Iran. But this -- the speech of the president in this session that the president will be chairing this morning goes well beyond Iran.</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. It goes to North Korea and it also goes to other countries who say, "Look, there are these big countries, Russia, the United States, who have all these nuclear weapons. Why can't we have them?" And it's a rationale that you're hearing from a lot of the world leaders. Ahmadinejad makes that point. And don't forget, you know, during the Cold War, you had two countries that had these nuclear weapons. And they had what was called mutual assured destruction. Each guy had enough to blow up the other guy. Now...</s>ROBERTS: Ten times over.</s>DOUGHERTY: Precisely. So, but if you have terrorists, that rationale dies...</s>ROBERTS: Yes.</s>DOUGHERTY: ... because terrorists are willing to blow themselves up in order to kill the other guy. So what they're looking at is this overarching structure to change that, to strengthen it, to make sure that these weapons don't get spread to other countries and that it doesn't get into the hands of terrorists.</s>CHETRY: We have the nuclear issue and also, of course, we've been hearing these controversial speeches going on as well. And so, we're expecting to hear some more controversial things today, Suzanne. You know, how does the White House handle that? How do they sort of react when you hear speeches like Moammar Gadhafi's and Ahmadinejad's?</s>MALVEAUX: You know, it's a delicate dance, because I know that -- we heard from Robert Gibbs yesterday, who was really just trying to, like, you know, brush it off -- that there wasn't any kind of dance, whether he wasn't trying to meet with him or shake his hand. We saw President Obama on the floor and he had actually sat down for a little bit. There was a chance encounter that they might have actually, you know, shook each other's hands, but that's something that they really try to avoid. One thing that I think we're going to see today is Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. What is he going to say? That's going to be very important -- because you've got the Obama administration really, very much, they feel in a pickle. This guy, who they feel like -- all kinds of questions over the legitimacy of his election. You've got 21,000 additional troops that the Obama administration put in Afghanistan to make sure that it was a secure election. And now you have this whole debate that is taking place with the administration over whether or not to send more troops or you pull out. I mean, this is something that they are fighting over in the administration. What does Hamid Karzai say? You know, do they consider him a legitimate leader when he speaks before that world body?</s>ROBERTS: You know, Jill, these speeches that we see and the controversy around them, whether it's Ahmadinejad or it's Gadhafi or Chavez or whatever, that's sort of the big stage show. It's the play, if you will. But behind the scenes, there's a lot going on -- which is where the real work gets done. What's been accomplished this year at the general assembly?</s>DOUGHERTY: You know, I think, if you look at it from Obama's perspective, he got movement, it appears, from Russia on this crucial issue of strengthening the sanctions. And...</s>ROBERTS: Against Iran.</s>DOUGHERTY: Against Iran. And although there Mr. Medvedev, the Russian president, isn't coming out and saying, "Look, I'm for really hard sanctions," he's indicating that that is where they are going. And that's very, very important. And then, also, what we were talking about -- this agreement, or this resolution that they will pass this morning, we expect. The first thing off the bat at this meeting, they're going to pass this resolution on nuclear weapons, nonproliferation. And that really is important. So, you know, two things in his corner that he's done so far, I think, if you're talking about Obama.</s>MALVEAUX: What was disappointing, though, was the Middle East process.</s>ROBERTS: Yes.</s>MALVEAUX: Because they really had hoped going in to get something. And even coming out, when we heard from the Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not budging, he did not budge on the issue of freezing Israeli settlements. We heard from Mahmoud Abbas, and he too is not budging. He wants to get some reassurance on the settlement issue before they do these broad negotiations, these broad talks. And we learned something about Obama's leadership, which he essentially was trying to encourage the Palestinian leader, let's move forward, you know, let's table this and let's move forward to broader discussions. Very pragmatic, but, essentially, it did not work. These two are entrenched in their positions. That's a really tough position.</s>ROBERTS: Expectations were low going in, results were even lower. Suzanne Malveaux and Jill Dougherty, great to see you this morning. Ten and a half minutes after the hour. And also new this morning, the U.S. government is warning Americans traveling to Germany about a possible terror attack. The alert coming after al Qaeda posted a video message threatening attacks timed to coincide with Sunday's election. The speaker on the tape is criticizing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Travelers are being advised to keep a low-profile for the next few days.</s>CHETRY: And a possible threat to passenger safety at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. According to the "Chicago Tribune," that paper reporting that federal inspectors found numerous violations that could endanger planes during takeoffs and landings. They include rocks and construction debris on the runways, also, overgrown weeds that could attract birds. City officials say they are taking these new warnings very seriously.</s>ROBERTS: And there was a shortage of Tamiflu for children. Demand for the drug has increased dramatically since the swine flu first surfaced in April. The Swiss company Roche Holdings makes Tamiflu. They have been focused on ramping the production of adult Tamiflu in a pill form, and that created a shortage of the liquid Tamiflu for kids. The company is advising doctors and pharmacists that they can grind up the adult pills and turn them into lower dosage pills for children.</s>CHETRY: And still ahead, we're going to be breaking down more about reaction from the president at the general assembly. What came out of it and politically speaking, what was at stake and what was accomplished. We're going to be speaking with James Carville and Tony Blankley live in just a moment. It's 12 minutes past the hour.