Photo | Courtesy Prof Walter Jaoko (left) with his colleague Prof Anzala in the Kavi laboratory at the University of Nairobi hold test tubes with blood samples from babies participating in the Aids vaccine trial.
  • 40 infants have so far been involved in the Aids prevention trials which started two months ago at Kenyatta National Hospital and the results of the study are expected in June 2012
The first Kenyan infants to take part in an Aids vaccine trial have been vaccinated and are being observed to see how their immune systems respond to a new formula that has excited the global science community.
Doctors at the Kenya Aids Vaccine Initiative (Kavi) are conducting a study on the vaccine that is billed to have the most advanced vaccine design ever tested.
Forty infants have so far been involved in the Aids vaccine trials, which started two months ago, and the results of the trials are expected in June 2012.
Of those vaccinated so far, 20 received the Aids vaccine plus other vaccines normally administered to infants, while another 20 in the control group received the usual vaccines without the Aids vaccine.
The infants, the youngest volunteers to an HIV vaccine trial in the country, will provide crucial data on whether the Aids vaccine, if proved effective, produces better results when given to a person at infant stage. The babies will also provide data on the vaccine’s safety in newborns.
If the vaccine, known as Modified Vaccine Ankara (MVA), is proved to be effective in subsequent clinical trials, it is going to be given to all children after birth, the same way infants are given anti-tuberculosis vaccines at birth.
According to Prof Walter Jaoko, the vaccine’s principal investigator, no adverse reaction has been recorded since the first baby got the vaccine.
“In all the children who have been vaccinated, the vaccine has proved to be safe,” said Prof Jaoko. 
Safety record
“The reason we settled on this MVA vaccine is because of its excellent safety record in past trials involving adults in the USA, UK, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.”
The babies were vaccinated when they were five months old, the age researchers have determined as the best time to introduce the vaccine in infants. In total, the researchers are expected to involve 72 babies. 
Half of these babies will be vaccinated with the MVA vaccine while the other half (the control group) is to receive the usual baby vaccines.
Each baby will be followed for one year from the date of vaccination to monitor their immune response upon introduction of the vaccine. This response is measured by looking at the cellular immune response specific to HIV. This is where cells of the immune system kill cells that have been infected.
The study is also going to determine the interaction of the Aids vaccine with other vaccines such as DPT, tetanus, pneumonia and flu that are routinely given to babies before they celebrate their first birthday.
Parents who have agreed to have their babies participate in the study were recruited through the Kenyatta National Hospital’s antenatal clinic.
Sensitivity of the tests
Due to the sensitivity of the tests, Prof Jaoko says they have had many sessions with the parents before the babies were recruited into the programme.
“Unlike the adult volunteers who participated in our earlier Aids vaccine trials, we have had many educative and counselling sessions with parents of these babies.”
Baby volunteers, notes Prof Jaoko, are a very sensitive group, hence the need to reassure their parents that all is well as the vaccine cannot cause HIV infection. 
The researchers have had to seek the consent of both the baby’s mother and father.