Booster Vaccination in Preventing Disease Recurrence in Previously Vaccinated Patients With Melanoma That Has Been Removed By Surgery

Inclusion Criteria: * Patients must have completed treatment on protocol 99-9 \[T98-0081\] "A Randomized Phase II Trial to Determine the Immune Response to a Mutated gp100 Melanoma Peptide Vaccine in HLA-A2.1+ Patients with a \> 1mm Melanoma on Initial Biopsy;" patients are not required to have received every planned vaccine as long as the reason for stopping was not disease progression or dose limiting toxicity * Patients must be \>= 12 months from their last vaccination with gp100 and be free of melanoma; patients who have remained continuously free of disease and patients who have had a recurrence that has been completely resected (stage IV no evidence of disease \[NED\]) are eligible * Patients must have a good performance status (Karnofsky performance status \[PS\] 80-100) * White blood cells (WBC) \>= 3500/mm\^3 * Platelets (plt) \>= 100,000/mm\^3 * Hemoglobin \>= 9 gm/100 ml * Serum creatinine =\< 2 mg/dl * Total bilirubin =\< 2.0 mg/dl * Patients must have recovered from any effects of major surgery and be free of significant systemic infection * Women of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test and must avoid becoming pregnant while on treatment; men must avoid fathering a child while on treatment * Patients must give written informed consent prior to initiation of therapy * Patients with a history of psychiatric illness must be judged able to fully understand the investigational nature of the study and the risks associated with the therapy Exclusion Criteria: * Patients must not have clinically detectable melanoma * Patients who require or are likely to require systemic corticosteroids for intercurrent illness are ineligible * Patients with any significant medical disease other than the melanoma, which in the opinion of the investigator would significantly increase the risk of immunotherapy, are ineligible * Patients should be free of any other cancers or deemed at low risk for their recurrence