JIAS Looks at the Big Picture for HIV Vaccines

November 29, 2021

Dear Advocate,
 
As we mark World AIDS Day this week, we recommend checking out a rich and timely supplement on HIV vaccine research and development published by the Journal of the International AIDS Society. The ten-article overview provides a look at the status of research, the context surrounding it, spotlights emerging strategies, and multiple angles on why and how vaccine R&D must forge ahead.
 
Even with two major disappointments in clinical trials of vaccine strategies in the last two years (the Imbokodo and Uhambo trials), we at AVAC are more committed than ever to the understanding that formed the basis of AVAC’s founding 26 years ago: a durable end to the epidemic depends on the accelerated development and ethical delivery of an HIV vaccine.
 
Included in the wealth of material in the supplement, AVAC cofounder Bill Snow co-authored a vision for how the HIV Vaccine enterprise can and must evolve to face today’s challenges and bring tomorrow’s solutions; AVAC’s Maureen Luba co-authored with a number of our partners HIV Prevention Today: do we still need a vaccine? A community perspective, probing the role of vaccines in the prevention landscape; and AVAC’s Jessica Salzwedal co-authored with HAVEG’s Cathy Slack and other partners in our Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR) Shifts in UNAIDS ethics guidance and implications for ethics review of preventive HIV vaccine trials, an article on evolving ethics guidance and implications for clinical trials (see additional resources below).

In addition, Cathy and collaborators further the conversation on ethics in HIV research in a post for our P-Values blog, The Ethics Review Process - A key to sound engagement. 
 
We encourage you to explore these articles in depth. To inform your advocacy, use this supplement, resources below, and watch this space for more resources to come, because it’s never been more important to champion the need for an HIV vaccine.
 
Resources on the Landscape for HIV Vaccine R&D: 

• Check out this infographic: The Years Ahead in Biomedical HIV Prevention Research
• Hear a podcast: Back to the beginning: AIDS and the elusive vaccine
• Read an op-ed: Finding an HIV vaccine: Five lessons from the response to COVID-19—this op-ed by Mitchell Warren and Fatima Hassan of Health Justice Initiative takes a look at what the HIV field can learn from the search for a COVID-19 vaccine
• Watch a webinar: Update on the Uhambo Trial
• Watch a webinar: Results and implications of the Imbokodo trial

 
Resources on Ethical Guidance in HIV Clinical Research:

• Read an overview: Ethical Guidance in Focus
• Watch a webinar: New Ethical Guidelines for HIV prevention Trials in People: What’s changed and Why Does it Matter?

 
Best,
AVAC