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Last month, the The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention.

Until recently, the only medications licensed and approved by the FDA for HIV prevention or pre-exposure prophylaxis, most commonly known as PrEP, were daily pills, which slow the progression of an HIV infection in the body.

\"PHOTO:
STOCK IMAGE/Fotograzia/Getty Images
PHOTO: A viral infection is seen in an undated stock image.
>

PrEP is usually taken daily so that it builds up in in a person's system, to the point that if there is an HIV infection, it prevents the virus from replicating and spreading throughout the body.

When taken as prescribed, PrEP services reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%, according to new data from the CDC. Now, individuals who feel at-risk of HIV infection have the option of taking the daily pill, or the new shot every two months, after two initiation injections administered one month apart.

On the vaccine front, Moderna recently announced that it's launched early stage clinical trials of an HIV mRNA vaccine. ABC News previously reported that the biotechnology company teamed up with the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to develop the shot, which uses the same technology as Moderna's successful COVID-19 vaccine.

ANNOUNCEMENT 📢: We are proud to announce that the first participant has been dosed in the Phase 1 study of mRNA-1644, our experimental #HIV #mRNA #vaccine candidate. Learn more about this exciting venture with @IAVI: https://t.co/apeIJpPbxz pic.twitter.com/1fON4j9hP7

— Moderna (@moderna_tx) January 27, 2022

Because bone marrow transplantation is a dangerous and risky procedure, it is considered unethical to perform on people with HIV, unless the person also has cancer and needs a transplant as part of their treatment.

ABC News' Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

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