new a study Conducted in Canada, CovaxHIV, is concerned with the immune response of people living with HIV who have been infected with Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus or who have been vaccinated against Covid-19. The scientific data that this study will produce will make it possible to better understand the immune response, and the safety and efficacy of vaccination in this understudied population, in relation to Covid. “We hope to target a group of people who were excluded from large clinical trials with the vaccine, because often in clinical trials, we try to recruit people who are not severely ill, (…) who do not have secondary disease,” said Dr. Cecilia Kostenyuk (University of McGill) for Canadian Press (June 16), which is involved in CovaxHIV. Four hundred people living with HIV will be recruited from clinics in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. The first part of the study will assess the reaction of antibodies to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus up to one year after vaccination. These data will be compared to the immune responses of a control group of 100 people without HIV, the Canadian Press explains. CovaxHIV intends to target groups and individuals that were excluded from the clinical studies that led to the approval of vaccines against Covid-19, including people with HIV or those who, in addition to HIV, have co-morbidities such as diabetes or Hypertension. “We are looking for people like those we see in a real clinic, not ideal people, but especially people with health problems because we know that it is they who are particularly at risk of problems such as deaths related to Covid,” emphasizes Dr. Kostenyuk. Researchers already know that people who are vaccinated after infection with Sars-CoV-2 will generate a much stronger immune response. The study will see what happens to people living with HIV. Previous experience has already shown that the vaccination must be adapted to be effective in these people. “We know that for diseases like influenza, hepatitis B and pneumococcus, [les personnes séropositives, ndlr] “They don’t show as good an immune response to the vaccine as non-HIV-infected people,” Dr. Kostenyuk told the newspaper. So in the past, there have been clinical trials of giving a double dose of the vaccine or additional (adjuvant). We suspect that people with HIV will not have a good response to the vaccine (against Covid-19) compared to people without HIV.” It would then be possible to compare the immune response of people living with HIV to the immune response of other populations. Those with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly or people with cancer, which will help to understand “how different types of immunosuppression affect the immune system.” Response to the Covid-19 vaccine.” The second part of the study will focus on the effectiveness of the vaccine in people living with HIV compared to people without HIV.
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