COVID-19: Moderna, Pfizer to include HIV+ volunteers in final stage of vaccine trials

Moderna and Pfizer, which has partnered with German biotech firm BioNTech to come up with a COVID-19 vaccine, have anunced that a handful of HIV-positive volunteers will be included in final st of human trials. This comes after US biotech firm h previously excluded m. With global coronavirus infections nearing to 20 million and over 732,200 deaths as per Johns Hopkins University tally, Moderna-NIAID and Oxford-AstraZeneca h entered human trials in August of ir COVID-19 vaccine candidate named mRNA-1273. 

This is a major development in testing of potential vaccine of disease caused by vel coronavirus or  SARS-CoV-2 because prior to this, vaccine trials have excluded patients with pre-existing medical complications and co-morbidities. protocol for NIAID-Moderna vaccine candidate, excludes those volunteers who have an “immusuppressive or immudeficient state, including human immudeficiency virus (HIV) infection”. Meanwhile, guidelines for Oxford-AstraZeneca trial does t include people with “any confirmed or suspected immusuppressive or immudeficient state" without mentioning HIV. 

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Moderna ‘modified’ Phase 3 study protocol

‘Modifying’ existing protocol for Phase 3 of human trials of COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna has said in a statement that after several discussions with its partners including BARDA, NIAID, and Operation Warp Speed (OWS), limited volunteers with HIV “who are t orwise immusuppressed” would be included in study. This comes after vocates submitted a petition to United States National Insitute of Health AIDS Director Francis Collins about US biotech firm excluding people with HIV without any underlying scientific proof. 

Moreover, several medical institutions including United States Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have recommended routine immunizations for people with HIV with a warning for live vaccines that “if CD4 T Cell count is below 200”. While Moderna released a statement on August 5, Pfizer also said in a letter to petition signatories on August 7 that it has edited protocol and have me vaccine trials available to HIV positive people in Phase 2 and Phase 3 along with people who have been treated for hepatitis B and hepatitis C previously. 

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Im: AP