With this week’s observance of HIV Vaccine Awareness Day (HVAD – May 18), the HIV.gov team has been thinking about the important efforts to discover and test a safe and effective vaccine against HIV.

While there is currently no vaccine to prevent HIV infection, researchers are conducting many studies trying to find one. Our colleagues at the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have noted that “Development of a safe, effective, preventive HIV vaccine remains key to realizing a durable end to the HIV/AIDS pandemic.” HIV vaccine research is a central part of NIAID’s work.

For those of us who are not scientists or who have not been part of the HIV community for long, here are some introductory resources to learn about vaccine research.

NIAID maintains a timeline on the history of HIV vaccine research. That’s where you can get a handle on the course of recent clinical trials (e.g., HVTN 702, HVTN 705) and the AMP studies.

Following the 2016 launch of the HVTN 702 trial, in 2017, NIAID blogged about its whiteboard video that explains how an HIV vaccine could be developed. We encourage you to watch this video; it continues to be relevant and puts the path to a vaccine in perspective.

The HIV.gov Basics section briefly answers questions about a potential future HIV vaccine, such as, “What are vaccines? What do they do? And why do we need an HIV vaccine?

HIV.gov regularly blogs on key developments in HIV vaccine research; our goal is to provide user-friendly content that informs both lay people and scientists who are researching and working in other health arenas about that research. To keep up with the science, follow the “vaccines” blog tag on HIV.gov, and follow @NIAIDNews and @HIVgov on social media.

NIAID’s resource pages describes select HIV related research studies and eligibility information. . You may also want to watch these short video about potential participation in a clinical trial.

As we mark HIV Vaccine Awareness Day 2019, we salute the scientists (at NIAID and around the world!!) who are engaged in this research. We also thank the many volunteers in clinical trials for HIV vaccine development and the healthcare professionals supporting these efforts.

IMPORTANT news for all of us about Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America. Visit the HIV.gov page about the Plan and sign up for the listserv. Please see the recent HHS announcement “Trump Administration Secures Historic Donation of Billions of Dollars in HIV Prevention Drugs.”