AHF Welcomes mRNA HIV VAX Trial, Warns Moderna Against Profiteering

If and when successful, AHF cautions Moderna not to repeat its greed with its potential HIV vaccine as it has on its pandemic profiteering on its effective COVID-19 vaccine

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AHF welcomed news that Moderna, maker of a widely deployed mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, started an early-stage clinical trial yesterday on a potential HIV vaccine that utilizes the same mRNA technology as in its successful COVID-19 vaccines. ABC News reported that the first participants were given vaccine doses Thursday in a trial done in partnership with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

“After forty years and more than 36 million AIDS deaths globally, we welcome any real progress in the search for an effective HIV vaccine and commend Moderna for applying its successful mRNA technology to its new HIV vaccine trial,” said Tom Myers, Chief of Public Affairs and General Counsel for AHF. “However, Moderna must ensure that it will not repeat its greed and pandemic profiteering like with its COVID-19 vaccine. The stakes are simply too high.”

A damning front-page New York Times article last year traced Moderna’s meteoric monetary rise--from total revenue of $60 million in 2019 to (a then expected) $20 billion in revenue in 2021, thanks to its COVID-19 vaccine. The article pointedly noted out how few people in poor countries received Moderna’s vaccine (Moderna, Racing for Profits, Keeps Covid Vaccine Out of Reach of Poor).

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.7 million clients in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare