Leveraging the Vaccines Enterprise for COVID-19 Vaccine Research

In many ways, the collaborative research movement grew up around Vaccines. Thanks in large part to HIV advocacy, out-of date research models that were competitive and closed-door are increasingly yielding to more transparent and collaborative research and development efforts—in both the HIV and COVID-19 responses.

Building on big science partnerships, data sharing and collaboration pioneered over the last 15 years of Vaccines research and development, global initiatives are marshalling the talents, experiences and resources of key stakeholders. And just as HIV laid the foundation for more effective partnerships in research, lessons from the COVID-19 experience can also inspire greater collaboration and broader involvement by a range of players in the vaccines research effort.

Excerpted from 5 “P”s to Watch.

Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention (VMMC): An introductory factsheet

This introductory 2-page document explains how VMMC works, reviews the scientific evidence behind it, and outlines key advocacy issues for implementing it.

Vaccines Research Pipeline

This graphic shows the many types of Vaccines undergoing research, categorized by the immune response they are designed to elicit—broadly neutralizing antibodies, non-neutralizing antibodies, T-cell responses or a combination of these.

AVAC Report 2019: One-pager

Each year, the AVAC Report frames the most pressing advocacy issues facing the HIV response. At the threshold of 2020, it’s clear that global goals for HIV prevention will miss the mark by a long shot. Now what?

This is a one-pager summarizing AVAC’s priorities for 2020. To download the full Report or see all its graphics, visit report.avac.org.

AVAC’s “3D” View of the World: 2019 and beyond

This infographic lays out AVAC’s top-line recommendations from AVAC Report 2019: Now What? The recommendations fall into three categories: deliver — prevention programs whose impact is well-measured and -defined; demonstrate — next-generation engagement for next-generation trials; develop — new targets for the post-2020 world.

Universal Test and Treat (UTT) Trial Results

As this table shows, the two trials that offered community-wide testing in both arms (SEARCH, TasP) did not find a difference in incidence between the arms. One explanation may be that the expanded access to testing and linkage in both arms had an impact in both intervention and control communities. The two trials that only provided universal testing in the intervention arm identified differences in incidence between that arm and the control arm.

There were other differences between the four UTT trials. As described below, PopART was the only trial with urban and peri-urban communities.

Excerpted from AVAC Report 2019: Now What?

AVAC Report 2019: Now What?

Each year, the AVAC Report frames the most pressing advocacy issues facing the HIV response. At the threshold of 2020, it’s clear that global goals for HIV prevention will miss the mark by a long shot. Though important progress has been made, the crisis UNAIDS called out in 2016 persists today with new infections around 1.7 million annually, a far cry from the 2020 target of fewer than 500,000. So, we asked ourselves, Now What?, and answered with cross-cutting analysis and an advocacy agenda to match.

For more from the report, including a link to all its graphics, visit report.avac.org. A one-pager of AVAC’s 2020 priorities is also available.

Vaccine Strategies in the Pipeline

Scientists are studying these strategies to develop an effective vaccines and deliver it into the body in a way that maximizes the immune response.

Vaccines Trial Participation in 2019

A look at the number of participants in vaccines trials in 2019 according to trial phase.

Community Engagement and HIV Prevention

In this episode of Px Pulse, we consider how future HIV prevention trials will need to be designed as HIV prevention evolves… and how to strengthen community engagement along with it. At the heart of the matter is that clinical trials for HIV prevention are set to get bigger and more complex, in response to advances in HIV prevention, such as PrEP.