POZ

POZ is an award-winning print and online brand for people living with & affected by HIV/AIDS.

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Be the Light

Bridgette Picou, a nurse living with HIV, helps women advocate for themselves.

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Laughter Is the Best Medicine

HIV advocate Daniel G. Garza uses humor to educate about sexual health and living a positive life. Click here to read more.

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Have you checked out the latest issue of POZ? We take a look once again at how social justice and HIV are interconnected, especially among Black HIV activists. Click here to read more. 

Cover: Bré Anne Rivera founded and directs the Black Trans Fund and is one of the many activist uplifting social justice issues and fighting HIV. Inside: Intimate images, art and musings in the monograph Eric Rhein: Lifelines; more good news about ViiV’s long-acting injectable. Plus: The 2021 HIV/AIDS Awareness Day calendar.

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Experts Matter

Anthony Fauci, MD, leads U.S. efforts against HIV and COVID-19.

Long before Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), garnered global recognition for his response to COVID-19 in the United States, he was well-known as a leader in the fight against AIDS.

As a physician-scientist in 1981, Fauci learned of a new disease emerging among gay men and gathered a team of scientists to study it.

“My whole career and life changed because I decided that this was important enough for me to change what I was doing and start pursuing this disease that didn’t even have a name at the time,” said Fauci during a 2016 NIAID interview.

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Who can safely receive COVID-19 vaccines?

People with HIV, people with cancer and pregnant people can be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In December 2020, the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for the first two COVID-19 vaccines—one from Pfizer and BioNTech, the other from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health.

Most people can safely receive the vaccines. Although many people experienced side effects, such as injection site reactions, fatigue and headache, in clinical trials—especially after the second dose—these were usually mild to moderate and lasted only a couple of days.

A small number of people who have received the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine experienced severe allergic reactions. But these rare reactions should not derail the rollout of the vaccines, experts say. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that a clinician with access to emergency supplies should be available to manage anaphylactic reactions. People with a prior history of such reactions should be observed for 30 minutes post-vaccination; others should be observed for 15 minutes.

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“It’s Time to Modernize Our HIV Laws in Nevada”

Nevada’s HIV crime laws don’t take into account condoms, PrEP, U=U or even whether the virus was transmitted.

AIDS advocates have launched an effort to update HIV crime laws in Nevada. Specifically, a group called the NV HIV Modernization Coalition is zeroing in on repealing or amending four of 13 statutes that pertain to people with HIV, reports Nevada Public Radio, KNPR.

Nevada is one of 32 states that continue to make it a crime for people living with HIV to engage in activities thought to be avenues for the transmission of HIV. This practice is known as HIV criminalization. It’s important to note that these HIV laws don’t take into account the actual risk of passing the virus to others—for example, whether a person uses a condom or has an undetectable viral load. The laws don’t even consider whether a person contracted HIV as a result of the alleged risky behavior.

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Drug-Related Deaths More Likely Stimulant-Linked in San Franciscans With HIV

A study of drug- and alcohol-related deaths in San Francisco reveal stark differences between people with and without HIV.

Among people in San Francisco who die of drug- or alcohol-related causes, having HIV is tied to a higher rate of death driven by stimulants, including crystal meth, Healio reports.

Ayesha A. Appa, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco, led a study team that gathered data on people 14 years old and older who died of drug- or alcohol-related causes in San Francisco between 2009 and 2018. They published their findings in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

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In New York’s First Wave, COVID-19 Cases Were Worse Among People With HIV

Compared with the general population, people with HIV had a higher rate of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

Compared with the general population, people with HIV had a higher rate of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.

During the initial wave of COVID-19 cases that slammed New York City in the spring, people with HIV had a higher rate of hospitalization and death from novel coronavirus infection compared with HIV-negative residents, aidsmap reports.

These findings conflict with earlier small studies showing that HIV was not tied to worse COVID-19 outcomes.

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What Are the Concerns of Aging LGBT People, Including Those With HIV?

A new report finds higher rates of depression and injuries from falls among older LGBT people—plus continued effects from the HIV epidemic.

Aging LGBT adults in Massachusetts are twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression and twice as likely to fall and injure themselves compared with their straight, cisgender counterparts, according to a report from The Fenway Institute. What’s more, those also aging with HIV are concerned about finding specialized health care, and those with HIV younger than 60 want to be able to access home health care.

Those are a few of the takeaways from a series of listening sessions held the past year and published in a report titled “LGBT Aging 2025: Strategies for Achieving a Healthy and Thriving LGBT Older Adult Community in Massachusetts.”

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HIV Discrimination Lawsuit Against CVS Can Proceed, Court Rules

Five people with HIV claim that being required to use a CVS pharmacy “causes them substantial difficulties and puts their privacy at risk.”

A federal appeals court ruled that five Californians with HIV can move forward with their discrimination lawsuit against CVS Caremark over the requirement that they obtain their medications at a CVS store or through a mail-order service in order to get their discounts.

The five plaintiffs claim that they no longer have access to the unique and personal knowledge and counseling of their preferred pharmacists, who understand possible drug side effects and interactions as well as the nuanced medical histories of their clients. What’s more, the plaintiffs say their privacy is at risk when they pick up prescriptions at a CVS store or have them delivered to their home, according to a press release from Consumer Watchdog, whose attorneys, along with lawyers from Whatley Kallas LLP, represent the plaintiffs. The lawsuit also points out that mail-order prescriptions can be unreliable and that people with HIV need dependable access to their lifesaving medications.

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88% of People With HIV Receiving Ryan White Care Have Viral Suppression

This represents a new high for HIV-diagnosed people who receive medical care covered by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has announced that people with HIV who receive medical care subsidized by the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) achieved a record viral suppression rate of 88% in 2019.

This impressive finding comes from the just-released 2019 Ryan White Annual Client-Level Data Report—the sixth such report, which covers data from the Ryan Services Report. The latter report is HRSA’s main source of annual data about people with HIV who receive any Ryan White–covered medical care. It pertains to 2,000 health care facilities that receive grants from the federal program.

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FDA Authorizes Second U.S. COVID-19 Vaccine

Moderna's coronavirus vaccine is 94% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19—and it may also reduce asymptomatic infection.

On December 18, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization for a second COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. The emergency approval comes a day after an expert advisory panel voted almost unanimously that the vaccine’s benefits outweigh its risks.

“There is much we still do not know about SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19. However, we do know that this vaccine is safe and can prevent symptomatic COVID-19 and severe disease,” National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease director Anthony Fauci, MD, said in a statement. “It is my hope that all Americans will protect themselves by getting vaccinated when the vaccine becomes available to them. That is how our country will begin to heal and move forward.”

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How’d We Get a COVID-19 Vaccine so Fast but None for HIV and Cancer?

Social media posts that make misleading comparisons undermine the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine.

Remember the wise advice about comparing apples to oranges? (Hint: Don’t do it.) Well, it’s especially true when you’re contrasting the development of a vaccine for COVID-19 with a vaccine against HIV, cancer or the common cold. In other words, just because scientists haven’t been able to develop a vaccine against HIV after several decades, doesn’t mean researchers need as long to create a COVID-19 vaccine. It also doesn’t mean a vaccine produced in record time is somehow fraudulent or dangerous.

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These Photos Depict Life With HIV Today—and They’re Free to Use

ViiV Healthcare teams with stock photography provider Shutterstock to offer a stigma-busting gallery of images.

The online photo gallery HIV in View shows real people living and thriving with HIV. Not only do the images aim to break down negative stereotypes of HIV, but they’re also available for the public to download through Shutterstock, a stock photography provider.

Launched on World AIDS Day, December 1, the gallery is a collaborative effort between Shutterstock and ViiV Healthcare, a pharmaceutical company focused on HIV treatment that’s a joint venture of Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Shionogi. 

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HIV Clinical Trials Network Is Restructured to Boost Efficiency

Here are the researchers who will lead the four networks of HIV trials and what each network will focus on.

The national system of HIV clinical trials has been reorganized and refined. Specifically, the new structure divides trials into four distinct networks, each with its own leadership and area of focus. The goal is to increase efficiency, reduce costs and allow researchers not only to work better together but also be able to pivot to emergent infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.

In announcing the system upgrade, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also awarded grants to 35 U.S. and international HIV clinical trials units and said more than $375 million in federal funds will go to the networks the first year.

The new system of clinical trials focuses on four key areas of research:

HIV prevention

HIV vaccines

HIV treatment, therapies and drugs for adults

Maternal, adolescent and pediatric HIV treatment, therapies and drugs.

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Three Countries Authorize Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine

In the United States, an FDA expert advisory panel voted on December 10 to recommend emergency use authorization.

Update: On December 10, an expert advisory panel voted 17 to 4, with one abstention, in favor of FDA emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for people age 16 or older. The dissenters expressed concerned about authorization for teens under 18. The FDA usually follows advisory committee recommendations. The same day, detailed data from the Phase III trial of the vaccine were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

*** This article was originally published on December 9, 2020. The United Kingdom, Bahrain and Canada have granted emergency use authorization for Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, and rollout is currently underway in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released detailed data ahead of a December 10 hearing, and regulators could authorize the vaccine by the end of the week.

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How Well Do Black Young Adults Understand HIV and U=U?

Survey findings from the “Owning HIV” campaign show the need for proactive education.

New data from a 2019 survey illustrate that many Black young adults could benefit from a better understanding of HIV, its transmission and related stigma.

HIV remains prevalent among African Americans, who constitute 13% of the U.S. population but made up 42% of new HIV cases in 2018. In fact, it’s estimated that half of gay Black men will contract HIV in their lifetime. And yet the survey found that 80% of HIV-negative African-American young adults reported being “highly confident they are not at risk of contracting HIV.”