People living with HIV are less likely to mount an adequate immune response, which may put them at higher risk for both serious COVID-19 illness and reduced response to COVID-19 vaccination.
Now a new national study will assess the immune responses, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination among this vulnerable population.
Dr. Aslam Anis
“There have been very limited data from clinical trials for this at-risk community,” says the study’s principal investigator Dr. Aslam Anis, director of UBC faculty of medicine’s School of Population and Public Health and the national director the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN). “The results of this study will provide critical and timely evidence to inform immunization guidelines and public health strategies for all of the approximately 67,000 Canadians living with HIV.”
Conducted by the CTN and a large team of co-investigators and collaborators from across Canada, the study, called COVAXHIV, is the most extensive study in Canada to date to evaluate immune responses, safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in a diverse population of people living with HIV.
While a small number of people living with HIV who are in stable health and without other medical conditions have been included in previous clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines, the information is not generalizable to specific key vulnerable populations that have not been studied yet.
“Our COVAXHIV study focuses on older patients, those who have suppressed levels of white blood cells that fight infection (CD4 T-cells), and people with multiple medical conditions,” explains Dr. Cecilia Costiniuk, CTN co-principal investigator, and associate professor at McGill University’s faculty of medicine and health sciences.
“The results of this study will provide critical and timely evidence to inform immunization guidelines and public health strategies for all of the approximately 67,000 Canadians living with HIV.”
Dr. Aslam Anis
The first part of the study will evaluate how well antibodies react to fight off SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, up to a year after vaccination. That data will be compared with the immune reactions from a control group of 100 people who do not have HIV.
The second part of the study will look at vaccine effectiveness in people living with HIV compared to people who do not have HIV through a population-based analysis of provincial public health records in Ontario and British Columbia.
“COVID-19 has had significant health and social impacts on all people in Canada, but the negative impacts have been greater for vulnerable populations, including those living with and affected by HIV,” says Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam. “This study will help inform Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, supporting the development of more effective immunization and public health strategies for vulnerable and diverse Canadians living with HIV.”
The study is supported by an approximately $1.75 million investment from the Government of Canada, through its COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF) and Vaccine Surveillance Reference Group (VSRG). The study is further supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) and Stop the Spread Ottawa, bringing the total funding to more than $2.6 million.
Participants who have already received their first vaccine dose or have already had COVID-19 are eligible for the study. To participate or for more information about the immunogenicity study, visit: https://www.hivnet.ubc.ca/study/ctn-328-covid-19-vaccine-in-hiv/.
A version of this story was originally published by the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.