# Understanding the Regional Ecology of a Future HIV Vaccine

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2024 · $790,033

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The U.S. experience with COVD-19 vaccination has shown that an individual's decision to vaccinate stems from
many factors, including beliefs related to vaccine safety1; the norms of family, peers, and community2,3; media
sources4; and federal, state, and local policy5,6. Many of these factors stem from a historical evolution and
regional idiosyncrasies, including regional differences in vaccination exemptions, levels of state funding, public
health communications, religious and political sentiments, and, often, longstanding reluctance to vaccinate.
Although there is evidence that these factors contribute to vaccination in several domains, no past research has
examined the ecology of this evolution for any vaccine. As a result, if a new HIV vaccine were introduced in the
near future, comprehensive, rigorous knowledge about the impact of vaccine factors, information circulating in
the community, norms, and public health policies would be paramount. This project will investigate the interplay
of these ecological factors at the state or county level, to predict over-time changes in individual intentions to
vaccinate against HIV if a vaccine were approved, as well as individual vaccination against other diseases such
as influenza, Hepatitis A, and COVID-19 among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM). The project will study the
impact of the ecology of vaccination on a future HIV vaccine by linking longitudinal surveys of diverse MSM (N
= 1500) to state/county/zip code data on community-based vaccine information in the media, vaccination norms,
as well as vaccine and HIV policy, including LGBT friendly policies and public health communications in the
media. After understanding key factors affecting HIV vaccination intentions, we will conduct an experiment with
another sample of diverse MSM (N = 1,000; Aim 2). Participants will be randomized to conditions of different
vaccine characteristics, information in the community, vaccination norms, and public health policies, and then
complete measures of vaccine choices and intentions; the choice to enroll in a vaccination trial registry and the
choice to sign up for an educational session about HIV-vaccine science as the behavioral endpoints for our
experiment. Participants will also complete measures of behavioral control, attitudes, and subjective norms as
the possible mediators of effects of our choice and intention outcomes. The project will be informed by extensive
pilot data on vaccine policy, public health communications about vaccines and HIV, and vaccine misinformation
across states and over time, as well as experience recruiting and managing cohorts of MSM and investigating
the acceptability of an HIV vaccine in this population. The team includes expertise in public health, psychology,
HIV medicine and HIV vaccine trials, communication, public policy, and economics, and will leverage the
resources of the University of Pennsylvania, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the Penn CFAR, and ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10894613
- **Project number:** 5R01MH132415-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** DOLORES ALBARRACIN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $790,033
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10894613

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10894613, Understanding the Regional Ecology of a Future HIV Vaccine (5R01MH132415-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10894613. Licensed CC0.

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