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IT took 105 years for researchers to develop a vaccine against the deadly typhoid disease and 89 to get one against polio.
This is what Mitchell Warren, the executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) often tells anxious prevention advocates seeking answers to why it has taken so long to come up with an HIV vaccine.
He has always been an optimist in the face of adversity.
“For years now researchers and scientists have been working hard to develop an HIV vaccine but this is a very involving process, it takes years of hard work, disappointments and starting all over again but we will eventually get there,” Warren told journalists at the just-ended International Microbicides Conference in Pittsburgh, US.
“When you look at other diseases and the time between discovery of microbiologic cause of that disease and development of the vaccine you can see that a vaccine cannot be developed overnight otherwise you will have a product on the market that will do more harm than good for people.
“There are numerous checks and balances, we all have to be patient but while scientists and researchers develop a vaccine those living with HIV must be given the right care and treatment.”
For the first time, this year the world commemorated HIV Vaccine Awareness Day on May 18 which came at a time results from clinical trials have shown that an Aids vaccine is possible.
The evidence came from the world’s largest vaccine trial that was conducted in Thailand and ended last year in September.
The results showed that an experimental Aids vaccine could lower the risk of HIV infection by about 30%.
Although not enough to allow for registration of the vaccine, Warren says there is greater cause for hope than ever before and a renewed sense of urgency to transform this hope into a reality.
“Despite the many perspectives on and interpretations of the trial — and its results — the Thai Aids vaccine trial provides evidence for the first time that it is possible to reduce the risk of HIV infection with a vaccine,” said Warren.
“In fact, there’s renewed energy in the Aids vaccine field today, even as we grapple with what these results mean and where we go from here.
“The next steps for the field must involve more not less: more trials, more community volunteerism, more political will and sustained funding.
“One way to help ensure this is to celebrate what has happened to date, even as we prepare for everything that still needs to be done.”
Zimbabwe AVAC/Global Campaign for Microbicides prevention research fellow Munyaradzi Chimwara agreed that there is need for more funding for the field of prevention research such as the development of a vaccine and microbicides.
“It may appear as though we are running out of time in developing an HIV vaccine or microbicides that work but if we look at how research is done, it is very taxing and there are checks and balances that are meant to protect you and me,” said Chimwara.
“When you look at the time frames of the development of vaccines you can see that the shortest took 23 years while the longest over a century, so HIV research is very demanding.
“Sometimes even after taking that long results may not be encouraging but donors and funders should not tire because developing a vaccine or microbicide will in the long run cut down money spent on HIV prevention and treatment.”
Founded in 1995, AVAC is an international non-profit organisation that uses education, policy analysis, advocacy, and community mobilisation to accelerate the ethical development and eventual global delivery of Aids vaccines and other new HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the pandemic.
BY BERTHA SHOKO
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