Interfering with HIV Diagnosis, Australia Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Trials

Interfering with HIV Diagnosis, Australia Ending COVID-19 Vaccine Trials

Australia on Friday (11/12) halted development of a domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine, after several participants in early-stage trials showed false positive HIV test results.

The vaccine being developed by the University of Queensland and the biotechnology company CSL “will not be viable on scientific advice, and will no longer be part of Australia’s vaccine plan,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

CSL claims that for the time being, there were no serious side effects in the Phase 1 trial of 216 participants. However, the data suggest that these developed antibodies interfere with HIV diagnosis and lead to false positive results on some HIV tests.

As a result, vaccine developers said, after consulting the Australian government, they decided not to continue with phase two and phase three trials.

How can trials interfere with HIV diagnosis?

University researchers incorporated small amounts of the HIV protein as a “molecular brace” in vaccine design.

“Although university researchers have confirmed that the protein fragments pose absolutely no health risk to people who have used the vaccine, they have identified a partial antibody response to them among the trial participants,” said Health Secretary Greg Hunt.

“These results have the potential to interfere with some HIV screening tests leading to false positive test results,” he added.

CSL emphasized that none of the participants contracted HIV infection.

“I want to emphasize that there are no adverse health reactions and that there is no possibility that the vaccine can cause HIV infection,” said CSL Chief Scientist Andrew Nash.

“These results highlight the risk of failure associated with vaccine development, and the rigorous assessment involved in making decisions about these findings,” Nash said.

Meanwhile the trial was canceled due to concerns it could damage public confidence in the vaccinations, said Health Department Secretary Brendan Murphy.

The vaccine is one of four candidates contracted by the Australian government. A deal has been made to order 51 million doses of the vaccine and the government hopes that inoculations will be available by mid-2021.

CSL switches to producing competing vaccines

Vaccine makers say they will now produce an additional 20 million doses of the vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca instead.

Australia also has an agreement with BioNTech-Pfizer for 10 million doses of the vaccine that is expected to be approved by state regulators in January 2021.

With a population of around 25 million people, Australia has recorded around 28,000 cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic broke out. So far, the Australian government has secured 140 million vaccine units, one of the highest vaccine-buying ratios in the world, officials said.

ha / rap (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

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