The US and Uganda partner to combat a deadly enemy

Uganda-US collaboration launches Rapid Vax project for HIV vaccine.
The vaccine utilizes mRNA technology pioneered during COVID-19 vaccine development.
Phase 1 safety studies are underway, marking significant progress in HIV research.

As seen in the Ugandan newspaper, the Monitor, research into the production of the new vaccine; RapidVax has already begun, as confirmed by the country director of the WRAIR, Dr. Vamsi Vasireddy. Researchers propose that the body can more effectively fight off infection because of RapidVax's frequent immune system stimulation.

“It is a new vaccine candidate that is developed by the US Department of Defense, using the mRNA vaccine technology that came out during Covid vaccine development,” Dr. Vamsi stated.

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“So we’re still in phase 1, which means we are still studying the safety of the vaccine candidate and we are hopeful it would go into phase 2. As you know the HIV vaccine space has been going on for a long time; the development and a lot of time, there has not been an effective vaccine candidate because the virus is very tricky and we are trying everything we can to find it [vaccine],” the Doctor added.

The US embassy relayed that study on the RapidVax began in March 2024. Those in charge of the study have yet to disclose the number of participants involved, their selection criteria, and how long the study is intended to run.

Information on the commencement of the study was disclosed weeks after a scientist from the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) confirmed that they had begun working on a new HIV Virus.

The U.S. Army and the Division of AIDS, NIAID, U.S. National Institutes of Health are the sponsors and funders of the Rapidvax project.