Vaccine Manufacturing is a Multi-Stage Process Often Requires Extensive Collaboration
This graphic highlights the extensive and complex process of vaccine production, encompassing initial design, drug development, large-scale manufacturing, the creation of administration devices, and finally, distribution.
As of March 2023, the World Health Organization reported that there are 199 COVID-19 vaccines in pre-clinical development, and 183 in clinical trials. Most are injectable; but 16 candidates are intranasal, 5 are oral, 2 are inhalable, and 1 is an aerosol.
HIV Vaccine Research
HIV vaccine research is a multifaceted endeavor that requires collaboration across many disciplines to develop a vaccine that protects people from HIV infection. The graphic outlines the different areas of research that are being pursued, including vaccine platforms, immune system research, clinical research capacity, and community engagement.
Introducing From the Lab to the Jab: A new series of advocates’ guides
AVAC is excited to launch From the Lab to the Jab, a new series of advocates’ guides that highlight key advocacy issues to ensure equitable access to safe, effective, and affordable vaccines.
Co-created as part of our USAID-supported Coalition to Accelerate and Support Prevention Research (CASPR), with additional support from the New Venture Fund, From the Lab to the Jab issue briefs provide a roadmap for advocacy to advance the development and delivery of essential vaccines for HIV, COVID-19, tuberculosis, and other global public health threats, and approaches to ensure equitable access to these life-saving vaccines.
Go to avac.org/FromLabToJab to learn about next generation vaccine research and development; the basics of mRNA technology; initiatives that support local manufacturing; and understanding and overcoming barriers that undermine equitable access to vaccines. Each brief also highlights the advocacy needed to keep these efforts on track and in line with what communities need and want.
Stay tuned for an invitation to join the From the Lab to the Jab Webinar in January 2024, and be part of the conversation that will use these briefs to strengthen advocacy and create a roadmap to achieve key transformational priorities in global health.
Vaccine Development History
A graphic showing the duration between discovery of the microbiologic cause of selected infectious diseases and the development of a vaccine.
A series of advocate guides to the latest in vaccine R&D
From the Lab to Jab are a series of briefs to learn the latest in vaccine R&D for HIV, COVID-19, TB and other global public health threats. Access them all here and stay tuned for a related webinar in early 2024. Watch this space or sign up for our email newsletter.
PrEP Resources Showcase
This dynamic, workshop-style showcase was the first of a series that featured multimedia presentations that took participants through key PrEP resources including: A toolkit to ensure programs related to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV prevention are well designed to reach and support adolescent girls and young women. Comprehensive databases for tracking PrEP uptake, Implementation research and other critical data by product, country, and population.
Small groups had opportunities to take deep dives into each of the above resources, and explore how they might use these in their work. Additionally, participants provided input on what resources are still needed, collaborate on how to improve and disseminate what exists, and support the development of evidence and networks to advance HIV prevention.
Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), as communities across the globe memorialize trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people targeted by violence and state-sanctioned bigotry, AVAC honors the trans community—those lost and those among us. We are committed, now more than ever, to fight these ongoing injustices and support TGNC advocates to lead on issues facing their communities.
Riding the momentum of the release of the No Data No More Manifesto and the Trans-Inclusivity Scorecard, AVAC is relaunching TG ROAR, a program from our larger PxROAR initiative, dedicated to supporting TGNC HIV advocates in Eastern and Southern Africa. The new eight-member cohort will campaign for trans-centered, HIV research and service delivery while addressing the social, political and economic barriers that all too often stand in the way.
Crimes against TGNC are on the rise as are rates of HIV incidence in trans populations. TGNC face unique barriers to testing, adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and maintaining viral suppression. Without meaningful trans inclusion in advocacy efforts there will be no epidemic control.
Learn more about AVAC’s new cohort of TG ROAR advocates here:
We continue to fight for transgender rights and invest in TGNC leadership to create a more equitable and just future for all.
Let’s Talk About HIV Cure Research: An introduction to the science under investigation
Dr. Marina Caskey of Rockefeller University and members of the REACH Community Advisory Board hosted a webinar on November 15 to review the current state of HIV cure research. This webinar explored what makes curing HIV so challenging, the strategies being pursued, and what is happening in locally in NYC!
Announcing the Good Participatory Practice Body of Evidence
We are thrilled to announce the Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Body of Evidence, a new online clearinghouse of case studies and analyses demonstrating the power of GPP, along with tools, templates and trainings for GPP implementation. The resources we’ve gathered for this much-needed “one-stop GPP shop” can be used to show the impact of GPP to date, how it can be measured going forward, and its practical application in real-time.
The Good Participatory Practice Guidelines have been shaping and improving HIV prevention research since 2007. They provide a global reference guide for ethical and effective stakeholder engagement, helping ensure the priorities of trial participants and their communities are centered in clinical trials and broader research agendas.
But GPP implementation is far from easy. Because GPP looks different in every context and outcomes can be difficult to quantify, engagement work is often seen as secondary to clinical processes, and therefore undervalued and under-resourced. The GPP Body of Evidence demonstrates the contribution of GPP to the research enterprise, and the professionalization of GPP implementation.
Rest assured that this is not a one-off effort! Stay tuned for a webinar series in 2024 with key partners including WHO and Wellcome Trust that will highlight critical issues in stakeholder engagement in research, linking to corresponding resources from the Body of Evidence. And we’ll be keeping the Body of Evidence up to date – so please reach out if you have resources to add.
It’s time for GPP to become an international standard for clinical research. Making that case and making it happen, using the GPP Body of Evidence, has never been easier.