COVID-19 resources: HIV and hepatitis C

This information is not regularly updated and this information should be considered archival. Please visit these sites for the most current information:

As information about COVID-19 is rapidly evolving, these resources generally direct users to frequently updated sites, rather than single pages that can go quickly out of date. We provide evidence-based resources and encourage members to dig deeper as their mission/work requires. We are grateful to everyone as they do their best through this crisis and wish all well as we work within this extraordinary time.

Information about how COVID-19 impacts those living with HIV or hepatitis C is being gathered as the world learns more overall. These resources can get you started. As this virus is new and we are constantly learning more, please note publication dates (in brackets) on material included here.

COVID Vaccines

COVID Vaccines and HIV
This page from the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS contains information on vaccines as well as COVID treatment considerations for people living with HIV.

COVID-19 Vaccines: Summary of additional dose guidelines for people living with HIV in Canada
Public health guidance has shifted as we gain more knowledge about the virus that causes COVID-19. Some people have questions about whether people living with HIV require a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As part of the partnership between the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network (CTN) and CATIE, they has put together a living document to provide the latest information on COVID-19 vaccination third doses for people living with HIV across Canada.

Navigating the sixth wave of COVID-19 as a person living with HIV
Advocate Shari Margolese talks about her experiences as a person with HIV navigating COVID in Canada. COVID presents daily, stressful choices for people with HIV trying to protect their health and live their lives.

COVID Vaccine information from BC’s Provincial Government

How COVID-19 vaccines were made so quickly without cutting corners
“In the last 10 to 15 years, there’ve been major teams around the world … trying to understand what needed to occur to make a protective HIV vaccine,” says Tom Denny, Chief Operating Officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute in Durham, N.C.. Those efforts have “helped us in our battle with this current pandemic.” These vehicles are like the Potato Head toys of the vaccine development world: Instead of swapping in different facial features, information specific to each virus gets plugged in.

HIV status does not affect immune responses to Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, two studies show
Two studies of immune responses to the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine show that the vaccine produced similar immune responses in people with or without HIV. People with HIV did not experience more side effects from the vaccine. The findings have been made available as pre-prints, which means that they have not been peer-reviewed yet.

Most COVID-19 Vaccines Won’t Affect HIV Risk: Here’s What the Science Tells Us
There are four types of COVID-19 vaccines, with multiple candidates of each type in development. All of them attempt to coax the body into generating its own immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, but they do so differently.

I’m living with HIV and have had the COVID vaccine
“I still can’t quite believe that I’ve benefited from a scientific and human achievement that, to my mind at least, ranks alongside the development of the effective HIV treatments which meant that I didn’t die a premature death in mid-1990s in my twenties but am alive and well today.”

Education Resources

AIDS Map covers HIV and COVID-19 research from around the world.

CATIE has a resource section dedicated to COVID-19 that includes webinars and reading material.

Information for people living with viral hepatitis. This resource is regularly updated by the World Hepatitis Alliance

COVID-19 and HIV: Webinar series. (2020) The International AIDS Society (IAS) has a series of webinars from April through May of 2020 on the topic of COVID-19 and HIV to discuss the pandemic and its impact on people living with HIV.

Advocacy

Statement on COVID-19 and Criminalization
“The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) understands and supports the need for sound public health measures to limit the spread of the virus, as well as the call for solidarity to protect ourselves and others. As we are still in the early stages of an unfolding and complicated pandemic, we remind policy makers that any measures taken to respond to COVID-19, as well as their enforcement, must be proportionate, grounded in science, and in compliance with human rights.”

Rights in the time of COVID-19 — Lessons from HIV for an effective, community-led response
Our response to COVID-19 must be grounded in the realities of people’s lives and focused on eliminating the barriers people face in being able to protect themselves and their communities. (UNAIDS, March 2020)

Conferences and Research

COVID-19 Conference at International AIDS 2020 Conference
The International AIDS Society (IAS) hosted a virtual COVID-19 Conference on 10-11 July 2020. The conference highlighted the latest science, policy and practice of the COVID-19 pandemic.

No Link Between HIV Status and Coronavirus Outcomes in Large US Study
“While people with HIV have higher testing rates, thus far, we have not found evidence of increased burden of positivity among those tested, nor an increased risk of severe COVID-19 outcomes by HIV status,” said researchers presenting at the International AIDS 2020 conference held virtually.