Two More AIDS Vaccines To Be Tried In Uganda

TWO more AIDS vaccines including one developed by the co-discoverer of HIV, Robert Gallo, are to be tested in Uganda soon, reports Charles Wendo. The visiting President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), Dr. Seth Berkley, said this while meeting Presidency Minister Gilbert Bukenya in the VIP Lounge at the President’s Office yesterday. He said the preparations would begin immediately and the first volunteers would receive the test vaccines by early next year. He said IAVI would work with scientists at the Uganda Virus Research Institute to carry the initial studies on a small number of healthy volunteers then expand the test in the final phase beginning 2002 or 2003. “Until we test we don’t know if it works and people have to continue doing everything to avoid infection,” he said. Both vaccines were formulated to make people who receive it to develop immunity similar to Kenyan prostitutes who remained HIV negative though they repeatedly exposed themselves to the virus. They have been tailored to the sub-type of HIV that exists in Uganda. One of the vaccines, code-named DNA-MVA, is given by injection and has been tested in Kenya and Britain. The other one, dubbed Salmonella vaccine, is taken orally. Berkley said the only reason there is no AIDS vaccine yet is that there haven’t been enough efforts. He said IAVI would try out several possible vaccines so that even if some of them fail to protect against HIV infection, there would be alternatives. Bukenya said the Government is committed to the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine and promised support. Ends