People with HIV at higher risk of breakthrough COVID-19 infection after vaccination, shows research

People with HIV have a higher rate of breakthrough COVID-19 infections after vaccination, compared to people without HIV, showed a study done by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, published in JAMA Network Open on Tuesday. 

The researchers inferred this after analysing anonymised health records among nearly 114,000 people fully vaccinated with either two doses of mRNA vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson viral vector vaccine as of June 30, 2021 through December 31, 2021.  

Comparing vaccine recipients with and without HIV, the researchers found that the chance of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test result or a COVID-19 diagnosis within nine months after full vaccination, though low, was 28 per cent higher among people with HIV. The risk of breakthrough infection during the period examined was 3.8 per cent for the non-HIV group and 4.4 per cent for the HIV group. 

“These findings should alert all people with HIV to their greater risk of COVID-19 breakthrough, and can inform official recommendations about COVID-19 vaccination for people with HIV,” said Keri Althoff, senior author and associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology. 

Public health officials have had concerns about potentially elevated COVID-19 risk among people with weakened immune systems, including those with HIV, since the start of the pandemic.  

The researchers examined the records of 113,994 people who had been fully vaccinated by June 30, 2021. Matching the 33,029 HIV-positive patients in the sample with the 80,965 HIV-negative patients (on age, race, sex, and date fully vaccinated), they compared the two groups’ rates of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections during the first nine months post-vaccination, or up to December 31, 2021, whichever came first. 

Indian government has also prioritised immune suppressed patients for COVID-19 vaccines and has made arrangements for these patients to get priority vaccinations.  
 

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