Chijioke Iremeka Developing a safe, effective, and affordable preventive vaccine for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus holds transformative potential in controlling and eradicating the disease globally, vaccine specialists and experts in infectious diseases have asserted. They said to control and ultimately eradicate HIV, the world needs a powerful array of preventive tools that are widely accessible to those who need them. According to the experts, vaccines historically have been the most effective means to prevent and eradicate infectious diseases, noting that they safely and cost-effectively prevent illnesses, disabilities, and deaths.
The professionals are optimistic that a preventive HIV vaccine, like those of smallpox and polio vaccines, could help save millions of lives, and that is why developing the vaccine has been a pillar of the National Institute of Health’s scientific mission since the start of the HIV pandemic. Information obtained by PUNCH Healthwise on HIV.gov, an official United States Government website managed by the U.
S. Department of Health and Human Services, supported by the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund, indicates that it has been a long-term goal of NIH to develop a safe and effective vaccine that protects people from acquiring HIV globally. Emphasising the need for the HIV vaccine, the institute states, “Even if a vaccine only protects some people who get vaccinated, or even if it provides less than total protection by reducing the risk of getting HIV, .
