The first clinical trial for a new HIV vaccine to launch anywhere in seven years is now underway in South Africa.
The trial, backed by the National Institutes of Health, will test the efficacy of a new version of the only vaccine to ever display evidence of protection from HIV transmission. The trial will enroll more than 5,000 men and women, which makes it the largest HIV vaccine trial to take place in South Africa where more than 1,000 people contract HIV annually.
"If deployed alongside our current armory of proven HIV prevention tools, a safe and effective vaccine could be the final nail in the coffin for HIV," said Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — a division of the NIH. "Even a moderately effective vaccine would significantly decrease the burden of HIV disease over time in countries and populations with high rates of HIV infection, such as South Africa."
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