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. 2025 Mar 7;13(3):283.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines13030283.

Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination in People Living with HIV/AIDS in a Northern Brazil: Cross-Sectional Study

Carolinne de Jesus Santos E Santos  1 , Ricardo Roberto de Souza Fonseca  2 , Sandra Souza Lima  2 , Thais Mayara da Silva Carvalho  2 , Letícia França das Mercês  2 , Maria Eduarda de Sousa Avelino  2 , Diogo Oliveira de Araújo  2 , Felipe Bonfim Freitas  3 , Igor Brasil-Costa  4 , Aldemir Branco Oliveira-Filho  5 , Antonio Carlos Rosário Vallinoto  1   2 , Luiz Fernando Almeida Machado  1   2
Affiliations

Efficacy of COVID-19 Vaccination in People Living with HIV/AIDS in a Northern Brazil: Cross-Sectional Study

Carolinne de Jesus Santos E Santos et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Background/objectives: The evaluation of the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination in immunocompromised individuals, such as people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH), still is of great global importance. The present study aimed to describe the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in PLWH vaccinated and unvaccinated against COVID-19 in the city of Belém, northern Brazil.

Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 510 PLWH was conducted from December 2021 to May 2022. Participants answered a sociodemographic questionnaire and subsequently underwent an anti-SARS-CoV-2 enzyme immunoassay for the detection of IgG antibodies, as well as quantification of CD4+ T lymphocytes and HIV-1 plasma viral load.

Results: Most participants were male (70%), aged 25-50 years (72%), single (71.4%), and low-income (50.4%). The prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies was 94.3% (481/510), with most vaccinated individuals having received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. An association was observed between antibody levels and the number of vaccine doses, CD4+ T lymphocyte count, CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio, and HIV-1 viral load.

Conclusions: PLWH developed high levels of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 after receiving the vaccine, demonstrating that COVID-19 vaccination is of fundamental importance for the protection against severe COVID-19 in this specific group of immunocompromised individuals.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine; HIV; anti-SARS-CoV-2; public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of optical density values according to the number of doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. * Kruskal-Wallis test.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of optical density values obtained in the ELISA test according to the CD4+ T lymphocyte count of the individuals. * Kruskal–Wallis test.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of results according to the viral load quantification test. * Kruskal–Wallis test; Undetectable ≤ 40 copies/mL = less than the minimum detection limit.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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