False: Pharmaceutical companies used COVID-19 vaccines to inject people with HIV protein as part of a project to create an HIV vaccine.

By: Vivek J
April 27 2022

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COVID-19 vaccines do not contain HIV protein. Nobody has contracted HIV from COVID-19 vaccines. The COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination drive against COVID-19 have given rise to discussion regarding the origin of the virus and the vaccines developed to combat the pandemic. One such Facebook post, citing the recent approval of the Moderna HIV vaccine for clinical trials, claimed that HIV proteins were induced into people using the COVID-19 vaccines. These claims are false. COVID-19 vaccines do not contain HIV protein. The main ingredients of all of the vaccines are publically available. The mRNA vaccines contain mRNA, which are biological instructions for cells to make one of the proteins in the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. There have been no reports of anyone contracting HIV from a COVID-19 vaccination. According to the global statistics on HIV provided by the U.S. government, nearly 37 million people were living with HIV as of 2020. The number of HIV patients now is lower compared to over a decade ago. No reports or datasets suggest a spike in the number of HIV patients post-COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The video claims that there has been a 1,100 percent increase in excess deaths of U.S. military personnel following the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. This claim was based on inaccurate data, a military spokesperson told PolitiFact. The University of Queensland partnered with Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL) in early 2020 to develop a COVID-19 vaccine using HIV proteins. A BBC documentary reported on this vaccine trial. But, upon advice from the Australian government, the trials were halted. The vaccine never entered further trial stages as it could cause confusion and create reluctance in people to receive such a vaccine. Logically has previously debunked claims where the BBC documentary was falsely used to claim that COVID-19 vaccines contained HIV protein. Moderna's plans to proceed with the research on an HIV vaccine were influenced by their success with the COVID-19 vaccine trials. Both these vaccines are based on the new mRNA technology. Moderna's CEO Stéphane Bancel was quoted in January 2021 as saying, "Even as we have shown that our mRNA-based vaccine can prevent COVID-19, this has encouraged us to pursue more-ambitious development programs within our prophylactic vaccines modality. Today we are announcing three new vaccine programs addressing seasonal flu, HIV, and the Nipah virus, some of which have eluded traditional vaccine efforts, and all of which we believe can be addressed with our mRNA technology." There is no evidence of COVID-19 vaccine-induced HIV, and neither is there evidence for the claim that HIV vaccines were developed hoping to see a massive surge in HIV cases among those vaccinated against COVID-19.