Notes From the Field

COVID-19 Vaccination Among Persons Living With Diagnosed HIV Infection

New York, October 2021

James M. Tesoriero, PhD; Wendy Patterson, MPH; Demetre Daskalakis, MD; Joyce Chicoine; Johanne Morne, MS; Sarah Braunstein PhD; Deepa T. Rajulu, MS; Eli Rosenberg, PhD

Disclosures

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2022;71(5):182-184.

During March 1, 2020–October 26, 2021, approximately 2,500,000 COVID-19 cases and 58,000 COVID-19–associated deaths occurred in the state of New York.* New York has the highest U.S. per capita rate of persons living with diagnosed HIV infection (PLWDH),^† and population-level analyses adjusting for age, sex, and region have shown that PLWDH are more likely to be hospitalized for and to experience an in-hospital death from COVID-19 than are those not known to be PLWDH.^[1] CDC considers PLWDH who have a low CD4 cell count or who are not receiving HIV treatment to be at elevated risk for severe COVID-19–associated outcomes.^[2]

COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be effective against symptomatic infection and hospitalization in New York, including during the period when the B. 1

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*https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-data-new-yorkexternal icon (Accessed October 27, 2021).
^† https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html (Accessed January 23, 2022).
^§Data were matched using a deterministic matching algorithm implemented in SAS DataFlux (version 2.7; SAS Institute Inc.), which is used to link all routine and supplemental matches with the New York State HIV surveillance registry. https://www.sas.com/en_us/home. htmlexternal icon (Accessed October 15, 2020).
^¶After a period of phased COVID-19 vaccine eligibility based on age, occupation, setting, or comorbidities beginning in December 2020, all New York residents aged ≥60 years were eligible for vaccination by March 10, 2021; eligibility was expanded to persons aged ≥30 years by March 30, and to all adults aged ≥18 years by April 6. HIV became a specific qualifying condition on February 15, 2021. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-new-yorkers-30-years-age-and-older-will-be-eligible-receive-covid-19external icon
**45 C.F.R. part 46.102(l)(2), 21 C.F.R. part 56; 42 U.S.C. Sect. 241(d); 5 U.S.C. Sect. 552a; 44 U.S.C. Sect. 3501 et seq.
^††Analyses excluded 4,163 PLWDH who were possible but not confirmed matches to the COVID vaccine registry. Analyses included 49 persons with a first vaccination date before December 1, 2020.
^§§Viral suppression is defined as <200 HIV RNA copies/mL at the last viral load test reported to the New York State HIV surveillance registry in 2020.
^¶¶ https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-breakthrough-dataexternal icon (Accessed October 24, 2021).
***https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p1021-covid-booster.html (Accessed November 16, 2021).
^††† https://wwwdev.cdc.gov/hiv/effective-interventions/treat/data-to-care/index.html?Sort=Title%3A%3Aasc&Intervention%20Name=Data%20to%20CareName=Data%20to%20Care (Accessed November 17, 2021).

Table. Characteristics of persons living with diagnosed HIV infection in 2020 and COVID-19 vaccination status — New York, December 14, 2020–October 24, 2021
Characteristic	Study population, no.	COVID-19 vaccination status, no. (row %)*
Characteristic	Study population, no.	Received 1 dose of Janssen vaccine or 2 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine	Received only 1 dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine	Not vaccinated
Total	101,205	64,278 (63.5)	4,349 (4.3)	32,578 (32.2)
Age group, yrs^†
18–49	42,714	23,199 (54.3)	2,324 (5.4)	17,191 (40.2)
50–64	43,428	30,324 (69.8)	1,565 (3.6)	11,539 (26.6)
≥65	15,063	10,755 (71.4)	460 (3.1)	3,848 (25.5)
Gender^†
Men	70,636	45,788 (64.8)	2,836 (4.0)	22,012 (31.2)
Women	30,476	18,436 (60.5)	1,511 (5.0)	10,529 (34.5)
Nonconforming or nonbinary	93	54 (58.1)	2 (2.2)	37 (39.8)
Race/Ethnicity
Black, non-Hispanic	45,534	26,691 (58.6)	2,413 (5.3)	16,430 (36.1)
White, non-Hispanic	23,208	16,420 (70.8)	677 (2.9)	6,111 (26.3)
Asian or Pacific Islander	2,519	1,728 (68.6)	54 (2.1)	737 (29.3)
Hispanic	29,075	18,906 (65.0)	1,172 (4.0)	8,997 (30.9)
Multiracial	590	359 (60.8)	24 (4.1)	207 (35.1)
American Indian or Alaska Native	190	111 (58.4)	7 (3.7)	72 (37.9)
Unknown	89	63 (70.8)	2 (2.2)	24 (27.0)
Residence in 2020^§
New York City	79,433	50,015 (63.0)	3,547 (4.5)	25,871 (32.6)
Rest of state of New York	21,772	14,263 (65.5)	802 (3.7)	6,707 (30.8)
Virally suppressed in 2020^¶
No	25,307	9,650 (38.1)	1,326 (5.2)	14,331 (56.6)
Yes	75,898	54,628 (72.0)	3,023 (4.0)	18,247 (24.0)
HIV care in 2020**
No	14,415	4,201 (29.1)	473 (3.3)	9,741 (67.6)
Yes	86,790	60,077 (69.2)	3,876 (4.5)	22,837 (26.3)

*Based on a Pearson chi-square test of statistical significance (p<0.001).
^†Current age and gender were determined as of March 31, 2021.
^§Residency was determined as last known residence in 2020.
^¶Viral suppression (<200 HIV RNA copies/mL) was determined at the last viral load test reported to the New York State HIV surveillance registry in 2020.
**HIV care was defined as any CD4, viral load, or genotype test reported to the New York State HIV surveillance registry in 2020.