Australian vaccine abandoned due to false positive HIV tests

[AnnnaBananna]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-australia-55269381
Apparently the Australian Covid vaccine has been abandoned due to causing recipients to (falsely) test positive to HIV. The vaccine included part of a HIV protein which resulted in HIV antibodies being generated in some patients. The patients were at no risk of HIV but were understandably upset and frightened.

I can’t help thinking that it was a stupid approach to developing a vaccine. People are scared of HIV and were likely to be afraid of taking the vaccine if they thought it contained even a tiny part of HIV. Plus it could cause all kinds of issues for the person if their medical record shows a positive HIV test. Not to mention they’d be unable to get tested later on and reliably determine their HIV status. Apparently the problem was pointed out by senior scientists months ago and the government chose to ignore it.

Months ago we didn’t know that Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and probably a few others would work so well. We had to try multiple approaches to maximise our chances of success. The HIV issue is a real problem, but if this was the only working vaccine we had then we’d have found a way to live with it. Since it’s not, then the downsides outweigh the benefits, hence abandoning it now.

I suppose it might have made sense to carry on with it back when we didn’t know if many of the others would work. If it had turned out to be the only way to stop people dying of covid maybe the positive hiv test would have been considered a price worth paying?
Whereas now it is clear there are going to be not just a few but many alternatives they might as well ditch it.

Although harmless, the wide spread occurrence of false positives in the population could compromise future control of HIV.

I can’t help thinking that it was a stupid approach to developing a vaccine.

It’s all very well saying this in hindsight. I’m extremely glad the global scientific community were able to trial so many different approaches.

It’s all very well saying this in hindsight
I don’t need hindsight to say that including HIV protein in a vaccine is stupid. Even if it was successful and harmless (which it was) the take-up would be poor because a huge number of people would be frightened to have it. And as Aprilrainbow said it makes it difficult to control HIV because it’s impossible to know who has it if people are falsely testing positive.

I don’t need hindsight to say that including HIV protein in a vaccine is stupid. Even if it was successful and harmless (which it was) the take-up would be poor

Not if it was more efficacious/faster to market than the alternatives. We were pretty desperate there for a while.

It’s easy to sit pretty now, with Pfizer in the bag, but back in March we we’re all shooting the the dark.

And they did manage to establish that the testers didn’t actually have HIV, so presumably the HIV testing regime could have been changed to one which would capture it properly. It’s far from ideal, but if I were ECV and this were the only option then I’d take it like a shot.

It wasn't long ago that we were told that the covid situation could go on for decades.