May 13, 2015
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD), an annual commemoration of the need for and commitment to the ongoing search for a vaccine, is on May 18. AVAC is pleased to join partners across the globe in observing the progress in vaccine research.
Over the last year, data from a range of studies have advanced our understanding of vaccine science, from “classic” vaccine strategies to newer approaches with broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). These include the launch of a clinical trial in South Africa testing a vaccine building on the success of RV144 in Thailand, as well as data on passive immunization with bNAbs. These advances and more will be featured in an upcoming AVAC webinar—Vaccines in Vivo: AIDS vaccine clinical trials in 2015—on May 18.
UPDATE: Slides and audio now available — click here.
The webinar is a continuation of a year-long series of web-based dialogues on HIV prevention and implementation, the most recent of which focused on advances in neutralizing antibody research and passive immunization. Click here to access the recording.
In addition to the webinar update next week, we are also releasing our annual HVAD Toolkit, which is designed to help explain vaccine science in simple language. This year’s edition includes a set of simplified, updated infographics, fact sheets and other tools outlining key advances in the field.
Click here to visit our HVAD page and download the toolkit.
The Toolkit includes the following resources:
- AIDS Vaccine Research 2015: An overview—Infographic highlighting the current state of the field and critical issues advocates should be tracking.
- AIDS Vaccines by the Numbers—One-page infographic depicting key data, including number of trials, funding, discoveries and more.
- AIDS Vaccine Science for Busy Advocates—One-pagers reviewing highlights, next steps and key terms
- Antibody Research: Progress on a powerful immune response
- Passive Immunization: An important piece of the puzzle
- AIDS Vaccines: The basics—Introductory PowerPoint slide set with basic concepts, an overview of research status and recent developments.
- AIDS Vaccines: An introductory fact sheet—Part of AVAC’s basic fact sheet series, a two-pager of basic information and research updates.
- AIDS Vaccines: Key messages—Bullet points on today’s pressing issues.
- AIDS Vaccine Science: Hot seat—Training exercise to bring the content to life.
We welcome any comments, questions, suggestions and requests for these materials; please be in touch. AVAC also maintains tables, timelines and other information about ongoing and planned vaccine and other HIV prevention trials at www.avac.org/pxrd.
We look forward to commemorating another HVAD with all of you as we continue to pursue the goal of a vaccine to prevent HIV.