March 26, 2020
[UPDATED: Recording now available.]
Please join an upcoming webinar on pandemic vaccine development, scheduled for Thursday, April 2, 10am EDT.
In the second installment of AVAC’s webinar series on COVID-19 and its relationship to HIV, Dr. Mark Feinberg, CEO of IAVI, shared experiences and lessons from Ebola and HIV vaccine development that might be applied to COVID-19 vaccine development. Dr. Feinberg was joined by Dr. Helen Rees of Wits RHI to discuss the history and role of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which supports vaccine development against emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
Access the recording, listen to excerpts or read the transcript.
The first webinar in the series featured a range of voices on COVID-19 and HIV. Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS (DAIDS) at the US NIH answered questions about risk for people living with HIV, the impact of COVID-19 on HIV research, and the status of research into treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. Lillian Mworeko of ICW-EA and Yvette Raphael of APHA framed issues that must be incorporated into a robust advocacy agenda for sub-Saharan Africa, a region bracing for a tide of COVID-19 cases already seen in Asia, Europe and North America. The advocates also shared their Call to African leaders to accelerate action on COVID-19.
Additional Resources
Our partners at the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) have a COVID-19 R&D Tracker. It summarizes the latest updates on:
- US government-supported R&D for SARS-CoV-2
- Efforts led by multilateral institutions
- R&D being led by GHTC members
- Other efforts by GHTC members to respond to the pandemic
AVAC maintains a Resources for Advocates sheet that provides links to the latest COVID-19 information on prevention and transmission, the research pipeline and a growing list of country-specific resources.
Also a work in progress, AVAC has a table of Ongoing Studies for 2019-nCoV Prevention and Treatment tracking the development of COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and a potential vaccine.
While there is anxiety and uncertainty right now, we take great comfort in our relationships, knowing we have each other for support, solace and motivation. Thank you, as ever, for your partnership and commitment to our important work together.