AVAC in the News

COVID-19 has devastated communities and health systems around the world — but it has also created an historic global effort leading to the unprecedented development of more than 165 potential vaccines against COVID-19. Equally impressive innovations are speeding vaccine testing within a rigorous scientific framework, while manufacturing and transportation capacity are being scaled up to distribute millions of doses of future COVID vaccines to those who need them most.

Standardized metrics and data collection aid meaningful comparisons of optimal community engagement methods for trial enrollment. Internet strategies had better success in the Americas/Switzerland than in sub-Saharan African countries. Data are essential in outreach staff efforts to improve screening-to-enrollment ratios.

One of South Africa’s three COVID-19 vaccine trials was recently put on hold after a participant in the United Kingdom developed an unexplained illness. After an independent review, AstraZeneca’s candidate, which was considered to be a frontrunner in the field, is expected to resume locally this week. But results are still a long shot for this year, says the trial’s lead investigator.

Maureen Luba is the Africa Region Advocacy Advisor at AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC) where she helps lead capacity building efforts around strategy development, data analytics and use for advocacy for Civil Society Organizations in Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Malawi to effectively engage in Global Fund, PEPFAR and national policy decision-making processes. She graduated from the University of Malawi with a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration.