SCC Public Health Department Update

PUBLIC HEALTH UPDATE

On COVID-19 Vaccine and PREP/PEP Treatments to Prevent HIV

The CDC recommends that individuals who are HIV positive receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Those who are negative but taking the drug Truvada as part of a PREP or PEP HIV prevention strategy should also receive the COVID-19 vaccine1 . There is no known negative interaction with any of the three vaccines and HIV medications. This information comes from individuals who were taking Truvada during the vaccines’ trials, as well as those vaccinated since authorization.

The use of the HIV medication Truvada as a form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) was approved by the federal government almost a decade ago. A second drug, Descovy was approved in 2019, though it not for people assigned female sex at birth. Both medications are a combination of the drug emtricitabine with either tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (Truvada) or tenofovir alafenamide (Descovy) and have proven enormously successful in greatly reducing the number of new HIV infections among those who have taken them as prescribed.

The Public Health Department has received questions from providers wondering if their patients who are on PrEP or PEP, or any HIV medication regime, can safely receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The CDC has been clear that there is no reason that those taking anti-retrovirals should not receive a COVID-19 vaccine. There are currently no medications that are considered contraindications for the vaccine, though women under age 50 who are on blood thinners are alerted to the possibility of developing blood clots if they receive the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America advises that patients do not need to pause taking of HIV medications (whether on PrEP, PEP, or HIV positive) in order to get vaccinated for COVID-192. Pausing medication increases the risk of contracting HIV for those who are negative and passing along the virus for those who are positive and currently have the virus suppressed. Those who are positive and unmedicated face even greater risks of serious complications if they contract COVID-19.

Some of your patients may find helpful information about COVID-19 vaccination for LGBTQ populations3, as well as information about COVID-19 vaccine related topics in many languages on the County’s website4 .

https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/covid-19.html

https://www.hivma.org/globalassets/idsa/public-health/covid-19/covid-19vaccines-hiv-faq.pdf

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DXr66_MqTfD7jb9Dw0GAUKY3wekTlQuN/ view