Abstract
Objectives: Viral blips (VB) have been reported in people with
HIV (PWH) after COVID-19 vaccination.
Materials and Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort
study among virally suppressed PWH vaccinated against COVID-19 with
mRNA-1273, comparing the occurrence of VB in the 12 months after the
first vaccine shot with those recorded in the 12 months before. The
association between several clinical and immunologic variables and VB
have been evaluated through logistic regression.
Results: Overall, 48 individuals were included in our analysis.
No difference was recorded between VB incidence in the 12 months before
and after vaccination [11/48 (23%) vs 15/48 (31.3%), p=0.42]. No
significant association was detected between selected variables and VB
occurrence after vaccination. In a post hoc analysis including
also 8 PWH excluded for not reaching the definition of viral
suppression, we observed 15 increases of HIV RNA out of 56 PWH (26.8%)
before vaccination and 23 increases of HIV RNA out of 56 PWH after
vaccination (41.1%). This difference in incidence remained not
significant (p=0.10) but a strong association between increases of HIV
RNA occurrence before and after vaccination [p=0.02, OR 4.3 (95% CI
1-22-15.17)] was found.
Conclusion: Among virally suppressed PWH, COVID-19 vaccination
with mRNA-1273 is not associated with increased occurrence of VB.