"My proposal now is to test a vaccine first on people who have been infected, and if you show some efficacy at this level, you might be able to go further to study uninfected people in a population with a high rate of infection"

This quote by Luc Montagnier suggests that a vaccine needs to first be checked on people who have actually already been infected with the infection in order to determine its efficacy. If the vaccine is found to be efficient in this group, then it might be studied even more in a population with a high rate of infection. This technique would permit researchers to figure out the efficiency of the vaccine in a population that is most likely to be exposed to the virus. By testing the vaccine on people who have already been infected, scientists can also gain insight into how the vaccine works in the body and how it can be improved. This quote highlights the value of evaluating a vaccine on people who have actually currently been contaminated in order to gain a much better understanding of its efficacy and potential for usage in a population with a high rate of infection.