Is the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine safe for those at risk of HIV?

Post date: 2021-03-06 08:03:17

Is the Johnson and Johnson COVID vaccine safe for those at risk of HIV exposure? Back in October 2020 there was an article published in The Lancet highlighting a possible risk of increased susceptibility to HIV from adenovirus-5 vaccines like the Chinese and Russian Covid vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is derived from adenovirus-26. Is there a reason to be concerned?

The concern about risk comes from field experience. A 2007 HIV vaccine trial got derailed because they discovered that their Ad5 vaccine was actually causing some men to be more susceptible to HIV infection, in particular if they'd previously been exposed to adenovirus. The conclusion was that there was a risk Ad5 vaccines could create a population more at risk for HIV infection.

Fast forward to 2020 and Johnson & Johnson has moved forward with adenovirus vaccines for several diseases; Covid, HIV, and others. But I haven't seen anything that says this concern raised in the Lancet article has been addressed. Has it?

One complicating factor; the J&J Covid vaccine is based on adenovirus-26, not Ad5. I have no idea whether the HIV effect seen from Ad5 would also apply to Ad26 or not. (The Russian and Chinese vaccines are Ad5 vaccines.)

This December 2020 note says that the risk shouldn't be considered too serious because it's unlikely many people were previously exposed to the adenovirus being used for the vaccine.

This article in Poz magazine addresses the Ad5 concern, but then writes it off for now because their audience at the time was only likely to get an mRNA vaccine, not an adenovirus vaccine. That's no longer the case though.

PS: I'm 100% enthusiastic about Covid vaccines! I also have read enough to convince me the J&J vaccine is good for preventing serious Covid illness just like the mRNA vaccines (despite the confusing statistics on efficacy). My only concern is this specific interaction with HIV exposure. I will get a vaccine regardless, but I'm wondering if I should insist on one not derived from adenovirus

Please click Here to read the full story.