The South African government says it could fill the potential gap in the number of doses it will need of the twice-yearly HIV prevention jab to end Aids by 2043 by getting a group of local pharmaceutical companies to make generic shots from 2027 onwards.
SA will need between one and two million jabs per year it is only getting about 500 000 shots per year from the Global Fund for 2026 and 2027.
There is, however, a hitch. None of the companies that will be involved have a licence from the injection, lenacapavirs LEN inventor, Gilead Sciences, to make the jab.
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The South African government is adamant that it could fill the potential gap in the number of doses it will need of the twice-yearly HIV prevention jab to end Aids by 2043 enough for between one and two million people per year by getting a group of local pharmaceutical companies to make generic shots from 2027 onwards.
HIV-negative people can take the almost full-proof jab, lenacapavir LEN, which was registered in South Africa in October, once every six months to stop themselves from getting HIV. South Africa had just over 170 000 new HIV infections in 2024, the highest number for a single country in the world.