Todd H. Stroger, President
Dear fellow resident: In June 2009, I signed an agreement with GeoVax Labs, Inc. This proposal was a cooperative agreement between Cook County, through the Health and Hospitals System, and the Core Center Foundation and Geovax. It was solely designed to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS by accelerating the clinical trials of preventative and therapeutic vaccines developed by GeoVax scientists. The agreement called for GeoVax to hold the tests at the Ruth M. Rothstein CORE Center, an HIV/AIDS clinic on the city's west side.
Unfortunately, the CORE Foundation, which runs the outpatient center, turned the proposal down. Foundation officials do not want the vaccine trials at the CORE Center. It is my hope that, with input from the community, we can urge the CORE Foundation to rethink and, ultimately, reverse their decision. The GeoVax vaccine has shown great success in the prevention and treatment of HIV in earlier trials. My complete focus now is on allowing Cook County residents infected with the HIV virus to have access to the second phase of this trial. I feel this drug will give hope to many who have or those that are at risk of getting the virus. Therefore, I am holding a community meeting to discuss ways in which we can work together to educate the CORE Foundation and Cook County residents on the benefits of this vaccine trial.
I will personally be present to discuss what the original agreement was and address any concerns you may have on the clinical trial.
Please join me on
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
at the
Center on Halsted located
at
3656 N. Halsted Street in Chicago.
The meeting will start promptly at noon.
Please call 312-603-0395 or email publicaffairs@cookcountygov.com
with questions, and don't hesitate to share this invitation with other groups or individuals who may be interested in this issue. I look forward to meeting with you next Tuesday.
Respectfully, Todd H. StrogerPresident of the Cook County Board of Commissioners
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