Impact of COVID-19 on People Living With HIV: Data From Five Medical Monitoring Project Sites, 2020-2022.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global economic and healthcare systems. People living with HIV (PLWH) represent a marginalized and stigmatized population who may have been particularly impacted. The purpose of this analysis was to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PLWH in the United States. SETTING: United States. METHODS: We analyzed surveys of behavioral and clinical characteristics of PLWH residing in 5 states that participated in the Medical Monitoring Project between 2020 and 2022. We described the impact of COVID-19 illness, testing, and diagnoses; receipt of medical care; social service access; employment; and preventive measures by project site and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Unweighted data from 1715 PLWH were analyzed. A high proportion of PLWH had medical care disrupted by the pandemic; 31% of PLWH missed medical appointments, 26% missed routine laboratory test results, and 7% missed antiretroviral therapy doses. In total, 30% of PLWH reported losing wages and 19% reported difficulty in accessing social services. Overall, 88% reported receiving at least 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but vaccine uptake was low among younger, Black, and Hispanic or Latina/o/x PLWH. CONCLUSIONS: This descriptive analysis reinforces previous findings that show that COVID-19 negatively impacted PLWH and their ability to obtain medical care. Additional efforts will be critical to ameliorating the longer-term impacts of COVID-19 on the health of PLWH and supporting PLWH through future pandemics and healthcare system disruptions.

Human immunodeficiency virus pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness among people who inject drugs in Portland, Oregon.

BACKGROUND: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among people who inject drugs (PWID) has demonstrated efficacy yet awareness of PrEP among PWID is low. METHODS: 2018 National Behavioral Health Survey data from the Portland, Oregon metropolitan statistical area was analyzed with chi-squared tests and generalized linear models to determine correlates of PrEP awareness among PWID. RESULTS: 80% of the sample had at least one indication for PrEP and 15% of the sample was aware of PrEP. Factors associated with higher PrEP awareness were: higher education level (PR = 1.083, CI = 1.018-1.153, p = .012), reporting transactional sex (PR = 1.154, CI = 1.019-1.307, p = .024), and men who have sex with men reporting condomless sex (PR = 1.376, CI = 1.081-1.752, p = .010). Lack of a usual source of care (PR = 0.884, CI = 0.824-0.949, p < .001) was negatively associated with PrEP awareness. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions to increase PrEP awareness need to target groups with particularly low awareness and be delivered in settings accessible to PWID.

COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake Among People Living with HIV.

People living with HIV (PLWH) are at greater risk for severe COVID-19 and are a priority population for COVID-19 vaccination. As of June 15, 2021, 61.6% of PLWH in Oregon received ≥ 1 COVID-19 vaccine dose. Younger PLWH, Hispanic/Latinx PLWH and PLWH who inject drugs or reside in rural and frontier areas had low vaccine uptake while PLWH who were engaged in care, enrolled in the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, and vaccinated against influenza had high vaccine uptake. Greater advocacy, education, and care navigation are required to increase COVID-19 vaccine access and uptake among PLWH.