One of the major biotech companies that developed a vaccine for COVID-19 last year, Moderna, is recruiting for clinical trials to create an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS. The trials, sponsored by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, are calling for 56, HIV-negative individuals of all genders, between 18 and 50 years old in good general health. Phase I of the trials begins on Aug. 19 and is projected to conclude in the spring of 2023, according to a release from the National Institutes of Health. “COVID-19 showed us what we can do if we want to move a vaccine forward quickly,” virologist Dr. Andrew Pekosz told VeryWell Heath, adding that the data from COVID-19 vaccinations may help biotech companies expedite the process for distributing ofher vaccines to the public. Traditionally, most vaccines contain a live or inactive virus, but some COVID-19 vaccines use the first-of-its-kind mRNA technology, which has been studied for over 30 years. This platform creates proteins...
