We are glad that the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) has, through Ms Anjali Nayyar, vice president, country and regional programmes of IAVI, responded to our editorial. We hope that IAVI will continue to engage with health professionals and readers of IJME about ethical concerns related to AIDS vaccine trials in India and elsewhere. As emphasised in the editorial, the IAVI-sponsored AIDS vaccine trials in India have established some high ethical standards and benchmarks in the conduct of vaccine trials in particular and clinical trials in general.