Research in North America and Europe is governed by very specific regulations and guidelines. In the US, there are two parts of the Code of Federal Regulations that govern what researchers may do in clinical trials. Each part of the CFR mandates that an independent Ethics Board review the research and if the Ethics Board believes it to be sound and believes the risks to the people volunteering for the research are appropriate, all the risks have been disclosed to the volunteer, and the volunteer is willing, there is nothing to stop the research from moving forward. So in terms of the Hippocratic Oath, pisstopper hit it right on the head - it's not about that - and Informed Consent is a very complicated process, not just a document. In short, if the volunteer understands the risks and is willing to take them, that's what counts.
And remember, this article deals with a Phase 1 trial, which is generally very small and very dangerous. The entire purpose of a Phase 1 trial is to determine what kinds of side effects the experimental drug causes (the technical term used in a Phase 1 Trial is "maximum tolerated dose" which in lay terms means "how much can the human body take of this experimental treatment before it's poisoned".) Nothing else. Lots of drugs and vaccines that show promise in Phase 1 trials don't always move to Phase 2, 3 or 4 trials because of the costs involved - which run into the millions of dollars. It will be interesting to see if this vaccine moves into a Phase 2 trial and if it does, where it will be conducted. The article says, “We are now prepared to take the next steps towards Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. We are opening the gate to pharmaceutical companies, government, and charity organization for collaboration to be one step closer to the first commercialized HIV vaccine.” Translation: we don't have the resources to mount a large-scale trial.
I guess we'll all stay tuned!