A recent study in monkeys is being touted as great news and a real break through when it comes to finding a vaccine to protect people from being infected with HIV. The quote here is from a report on latinoshealth.com:

… the research team has incorporated the vaccine in monkeys by means of adenovirus 26, a common cold virus, to help develop antibodies. A second vaccine containing a surface protein of HIV is then added.
The two-step vaccination method showed that 50 percent of the monkeys have been protected against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), an HIV-like virus that affects monkeys.

But don’t get your hopes up too quickly. Researchers have been working on finding a vaccine for close to 30 years.

Medical Daily adds that coming up with an HIV vaccine is essentially difficult due to the ability of the virus to kill the T-cells, the defenders of the body’s immune system. The HIV virus also mutates quickly, making it impossible to be identified and detected by the immune system.

Human trials will begin shortly as the company is currently enrolling 400 test participants.