AVAC's Blog: P-Values

This HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD), May 18, 2020, is like no other before. HIV and COVID-19 each present a vivid picture of the need for the vaccine enterprise. A durable, sustainable end to any epidemic depends on a vaccine. HVAD is a day to call attention to the still-urgent need for an HIV vaccine, take stock of progress, recognize the incalculable contributions of trial participants and researchers—and, this year, to explain how work in HIV has created the foundation for the unprecedented speed of COVID-19 vaccine development.

The WHO Working Group has articulated important criteria for assessing a challenge study, but we believe that they left out the most important one: Until there is an approved treatment, a challenge trial with a potentially fatal and as-yet untreatable pathogen is unacceptable.

For women all over the world, getting the products and services they need and want for HIV prevention and for sexual & reproductive health (SRH) are mired in challenges – and COVID-19 is intensifying the struggle. Siloed care, stock outs, and too little input from women themselves on the design of programs and products are among the long-standing barriers to women’s healthcare, and COVID-19 exacerbates these difficulties. AVAC is expanding our partnerships and programs to meet these challenges.

In the midst of the global response to COVID-19, everyone and everything is affected, and HIV prevention research is no exception.