Therapy Areas: AIDS & HIV
Data suggests well-controlled HIV infections does not impair mRNA COVID-19 vaccine response
12 April 2022 -

New data has revealed that people living with well-controlled HIV infections are likely to have immune responses to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna (Nasdaq:MRNA) and from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/BioNTech (Nada:BNTX), similar to those of otherwise healthy individuals, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

Researchers studied vaccine responses in 166 people living with HIV who were taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) at one month after they received their second COVID-19 shot. They also looked at responses in 169 healthy individuals.

At the start, 32 patients had CD4 T cell counts below 200, a low level of these immune cells that correlates with poorly controlled HIV and high risk for serious illness. 56 had CD4 counts of 200-500, while 78 had CD4 counts over 500, indicating well-controlled HIV.

The researchers reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases that after accounting for patients' other risk factors, the group with poorly controlled HIV had only low levels of COVID-19 antibodies and other immune response markers after vaccination.

Compared to the healthy volunteers, participants with moderately well controlled HIV had a somewhat weaker antibody response to the vaccines, but there was no difference in immune responses between the healthy volunteers and the patients with well-controlled HIV.

The researchers concluded that these results suggest that mRNA vaccines can elicit a robust immune response against SARS-CoV-2 in most people living with HIV and receiving ART.

Patients with CD4 counts below 200 should receive a booster dose, the researchers said.

They added that boosters could also "be reasonably offered" when the CD4 count is between 200 and 500, given that these patients' responses were weaker than responses in the healthy comparison group.

Login
Username:

Password: