There are no chances to reduce the risk of infection: HIV vaccine trials have been stopped in Africa

There are no chances to reduce the risk of infection: HIV vaccine trials have been stopped in Africa


In Africa, the first trial of two combined vaccines to prevent HIV was stopped after disappointing results.

African researchers and European scientists tested two vaccines for the prevention of HIV as part of the PrEPVacc study, writes CNN.

It is reported that the vaccines were tested on 1,500 volunteers aged 18 to 40 in Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa.

However, the trial was stopped after researchers concluded that the drugs had virtually no chance of reducing the risk of infection.

Photo: i.mylinska/Depositphotos

As noted, the medical community has not yet developed an effective vaccine to prevent HIV, and on the eve of this trial, one of the scientists said that the next such study is unlikely to be conducted until the 2030s.

PrEPVacc Principal Investigator Pontiano Kalibou noted that “developing a vaccine to prevent HIV is a critical goal for Africa.”

This goal is even more urgent now, when nowhere in the world is the effectiveness of the vaccine against HIV tested“, he added.

PrEPVacc director Dr. Eugene Ruzagira said that while the “scientific hurdles are high,” he has “high hopes that one day an HIV vaccine will be developed.”

According to the researchers, detailed results of the PrEPVacc trial are planned to be published in the summer of 2024.

It should be noted that 36 years have passed since the beginning of the first test of the vaccine against HIV.

Although the number of new cases of HIV infection has decreased dramatically since their peak in the mid-1990s, the latest data from UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS) indicate that 39 million people worldwide are living with the disease infection More than half of them are women and girls. At the same time, young women and girls (15-24 years old) account for 77% of new cases of the disease in Africa.

We will remind you that earlier we wrote about what to do if you are diagnosed with HIV.

Read also: “I’ve always had a fear of dying in the basement.” The story of a woman with HIV who was on the verge of death



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