HIV: Inclusion of Children in HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trials

HIV: Inclusion of Children in HIV/AIDS Vaccine Trials

History suggests that a vaccine may prove to be the most effective, affordable, long-term approach to stopping the spread of HIV. However, some of the populations hardest hit by the pandemic — infants and youth — are at risk of being left behind in the search for an effective vaccine against the HIV virus. To date, children and youth have been included in only a very small number of HIV vaccine trials.

More than 1,000 children are infected with HIV every day, the vast majority through mother-to-child transmission (MTCT). While effective, low-cost MTCT interventions exist and work to dramatically reduce newborn infection rates, the lack of a vaccine still places infants at risk of contracting HIV through breast-feeding.

Since 1988, the Foundation has provided $10 million to support 41 separate studies related to pediatric vaccine research. In May 2007, the Foundation was awarded a five-year, $9.7 million grant from the Gates Foundation to significantly expand its critical vaccine research. The HIV vaccine program supported by the grant will be the first of its kind to support basic research and clinical trials specific to breast-feeding infants.

As this promising research effort advances, the Foundation is also working to educate Congress and the administration about the importance of vaccine research as a critical preventive strategy in the battle against HIV/AIDS and the need to ensure that the special needs of children are not overlooked in the quest for an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine.