COVID-19 vaccines to be available at HIV care sites – Minister

In order to make HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) patients more comfortable in taking the COVID-19 vaccines, the Health Ministry has taken a move to offer the jabs at care and treatment centres in the future.
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony shared during Tuesday’s briefing that there were apprehensions from HIV patients in taking their vaccines from the common vaccination sites. Amid this concern, the National Care and Treatment Centre in Georgetown will be offering the vaccines as of this week.
The National Care and Treatment Centre in Guyana is an HIV treatment site, providing antiretroviral treatment to a significant percentage of Guyana’s positive patients. The plan is to make the shots accessible at other centres in the future – a decision which is expected to bolster the national vaccination campaign.

“As of this week, we have been working with the national care and treatment site here in Georgetown to make that also into a vaccination site. They should start from this week. Patients going there for there for their regular treatment would be counselled about taking the vaccines and they can get the vaccine right there. We’re hoping to replicate this at all of our care and treatment sites so that these patients don’t have to feel uncomfortable, and go to one of the fixed sites. I think this is going to encourage more people to take the vaccine, persons who are HIV positive and we’re hoping to see better uptake of the vaccine among this population,” Dr Anthony voiced.
The Health Minister pointed out that HIV is a comorbidity, a condition which enhances a person’s risks of developing a severe form of the virus upon contraction. Moving forward, the subset of people with common comorbidities will also be on the Ministry’s radar.
“HIV is a comorbidity and we want to make sure that they have access to these vaccines. We will be monitoring with other types of patients as well and we’re hoping that we can introduce a similar service for patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases and some of the more popular clinics that we have. We would use these opportunities to talk to people about getting the vaccines.”
As of 2019, some 8200 persons were living with HIV in Guyana. This represents just over one per cent of the country’s population. The World Health Organisation has emphasised that many people living with HIV have one or more comorbidities that may put them at increased risk for a more severe form of COVID-19. This has cemented the need for them to be considered as a priority group.
“People living with HIV with comorbidities such as COPD, asthma, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, motor neurone disease, severe obesity should be prioritised for early vaccination in most settings. People living with HIV should not be excluded from COVID-19 vaccine access plans regardless of their immune status, and countries ought to consider including people living with HIV as a priority group for COVID-19 vaccination according to their epidemiological context,” the agency stipulated.
It added that available vaccine products are not live vaccines as they include genetic material from SARS-CoV-2 which cannot replicate. Therefore, these vaccines are not expected to be less safe in people who are immunocompromised. In addition to this, no pharmacological interactions have been reported between COVID-19 vaccines and antiretroviral medications. (G12)