Covid lessons in quest for a HIV vaccine
A red ribbon used in HIV/Aids campaigns.
What you need to know:
- Like Aids, Covid-19 has a greater impact on marginalised people — such as those with higher HIV rate.
- Researchers can tap into the new mRNA technology, which can swiftly produce vaccine variations, in the hunt for HIV vaccines.
Some 38 million people are living with HIV. Although no research data is available yet on the impact of Covid-19 on these people, global health experts are concerned that the pandemic could severely affect 12.6 million (or 33 per cent) of them who are unable to access HIV treatment to stay healthy.
Recent modelling by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) shows there could be more 500,000 Aids-related deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the year due to a disruption in antiretroviral medication supplies.
Like Aids, Covid-19 has a greater impact on marginalised people — such as those with higher HIV rates, including adolescent girls and young women, LGBT people, sex workers and drug addicts. WHO estimates a 98 per cent self-recovery from Covid-19, compared to zero out of 38 million from HIV/Aids.
Scientifically, unlike SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes coronavirus disease), HIV is a skillful shape shifter that develops a number of strains around the world to evade immune system reactions, attack crucial immune cells and lurk in reservoirs, from where it can strike at any time. It is a more elusive target than SARS-CoV-2.
That explains why, despite more than four decades of scientific evidence that the body produces antibodies to HIV, and that inducing it to produce antibodies is a well-established and effective vaccine approach that is lowering the incidence of many other diseases, there has been no viable vaccine candidate for HIV. Yet scientists have produced multiple effective vaccines for the SARS-CoV-2 in less than a year.
Covid-19 vaccine development largely benefited from the clinical, laboratory and biostatistical infrastructure of HIV Vaccine Trials Network. This enthusiasm fuels long-term vaccine research initiatives that will be critical in the fight against HIV. Researchers can tap into the new mRNA technology, which can swiftly produce vaccine variations, in the hunt for HIV vaccines.
Mr Onyango is a Life Scientist and Global Fellow at Moving Worlds Institute. [email protected]
