Beginners Guide to HIV Vaccine Awareness Day

Let’s start with “What is a vaccine”? A vaccine is a prevention measure. Vaccinations protect against us from serious illnesses like the measles, polio, smallpox and diphtheria. If you’ve ever had a shot, you’ve probably had a vaccine.

Searching for a safe and effective HIV prevention measure like a vaccine is a global effort. So it requires a tremendous commitment from governments, medical facilities, pharmaceutical companies and volunteers. But not many people knew about all this work that’s necessary. Therefore, the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) created HIV Vaccine Awareness Day.

It’s a chance to thank the volunteers, community members, health professionals, and scientists working together to find a safe and effective preventive HIV vaccine. It is also a time to educate communities about the importance of preventive vaccine research.

Treatment has come a long way but not everyone has ongoing access to medical care. In fact, once someone achieves viral suppression, they cannot transmit the virus! Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is also a highly effective method of HIV prevention. But again, not everyone has ongoing access to medical care. Plus many people want HIV prevention options.

• There was a 46% increase in HIV cases in Orange County, Florida from 2013-2017 (1)
• There were approximately 36.9 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS in 2017 (2)
• An estimated 1.8 million individuals worldwide became newly infected with HIV in 2017 (2)

For example, if a vaccine was 70% effective, it could prevent HIV in millions of people. As a result, save millions of lives!

OIC is at the forefront of clinical research into finding safe, effective HIV prevention methods and has been for over 20 years. For that reason, OIC was honored to be the first and only site selected in Orlando to participate in a worldwide HIV vaccine study back in 2010. During that study, valuable information was gained that guided subsequent work. So if your interesting in volunteering for any of our current studies, click here.

An international consortium that includes OIC will begin recruiting thousands of HIV negative volunteers for a new HIV vaccine study in late 2019. Furthermore, it will include sites from three continents for a trial of a vaccine designed to protect people against multiple strains of HIV. The new study name is HPX3002/HVTN 706 or Mosaico. OIC will be the only local clinic research facility participating in this global effort. We are not currently recruiting for this study, however if you to inquire about this or any study, click here.

We deeply appreciate everyone that has volunteered over the last 20 years for clinical research.

Working together, we can end HIV.

Sam Graper,
Community Relations Manager, 
Orlando Immunology Center
Proudly Serving Central Florida for Over 20 Years

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References:

1. FLHealthCharts.com is provided by the Florida Department of Health, Division of Public Health Statistics & Performance Management. Data Source: Florida Department of Health, HIV/AIDS Section

2. HIV.gov Overview : Data & Trends : Global Statistics