The article is real, in that The Times actually published it.
>An article titled “Smallpox vaccine triggered AIDS virus,” written by Pearce Wright and published in The Times on May 11th, 1987, falsely claimed that the smallpox eradication efforts “awakened unsuspected, dormant human immune defense virus infections (HIV).” (Wright, 1987) Wright continued to assert false claims that “some experts” (these “experts” were never confirmed nor identified) feared that obliterating smallpox transformed a minor HIV epidemic into a global pandemic. No scientific publications supported Wright’s claims.
Are the claims true? Hard to know but the scientific community, especially those involved with public health, doesn't have the credibility to dismiss claims by virtue of authority so they'll need to show definitive proof if they want the claims to go away. Or they can ignore them, saying it is up to Wright and his supporters to prove their claims while belief in those claims continue to spread regardless of what public health officials say.
