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The definition of a vaccine is that it is preventative vs. a cure which is removing a disease from a previously infected patient.

"A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease."

Yes, but immunity has many definitions, including 'to fight off'.

Since it's essentially teaching the immune system, why does this not work when the patient is already infected.

I thought there may be some difference between this and traditional vaccines as well.

This story discusses other HIV vaccine efforts that are targeted at already infected and stop the dependence on the HIV meds:

according to that article there are 34 million people already infected worldwide.