Genetic vaccines and methods are provided for enhancing the immunity of a host such as a human to one or more pathogens. In one aspect, a method of enhancing the immunity of a host to a pathogen is provided. The method comprises administering to the host a recombinant virus comprising an antigen sequence that is heterologous to a native progenitor of the recombinant adenovirus and encodes a viral antigen from a pathogenic virus, expression of which is under the transcriptional control of a first promoter; and a cytokine sequence that is heterologous to the native progenitor of the recombinant adenovirus and encodes a cytokine, expression of which is under the transcriptional control of a second promoter. Expression of the antigen and cytokine sequences elicits an immune response directed against the viral antigen upon infection of the host by the recombinant virus. The method can be used for immunizing a host against a wide variety of pathogen viruses, such as HIV, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, influenza virus, human simplex virus, human papilloma virus and respiratory syncytial virus.