Plans for HIV/AIDS vaccine in top gear – FG

The federal government yesterday said plans were on to join countries that are presently working and investing towards the manufacture of a HIV/AIDS vaccine in a bid to finally get a cure for the virus.

The country has already developed a new HIV Vaccine Plan to boost research into drugs that could tackle the HIV strains that are peculiar to Nigeria and West Africa.

Study Coordinator of the Nigeria-Canadian Collaborative AIDS Vaccine Project (NICCAV), Dr Eva Okpokoro, at a media roundtable in Abuja yesterday said that the project is looking at working with a cohort of sero-discordant couples over the next three years in preparation for HIV vaccine trial in Nigeria.

“The project has three targets: clinical research, ethics and regulation, community mobilization and research laboratory international certification,” he said.

On the HIV vaccine, Dr. Morenike Ukpong of the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society (NHVMAS) stressed the need and eagerness of stakeholders to develop a vaccine for Nigeria because of the peculiarities of the HIV strain the country, and the West African region as a whole.

She said “Even if we have eventually developed a vaccine globally, it may not be applicable to Nigeria because we have a peculiar vaccine strain that needs special research efforts.”

She said NHVMAS was born out of a collective vision of a few Nigerian activists to ensure proactive and early involvement of the Nigerian government and its citizens in New HIV prevention technology research and development.

The Ministries of Health, Science & Technology, Education, Information as well as NACA and other government agencies will be principally involved in the implementation of the National HIV Vaccine Plan.