Women with HIV probably need a booster shot of HPV vaccine within 2 years to maintain efficacy, according to a Canadian study of quadrivalent HPV vaccine (Gardasil) in 136 HIV-positive women.
Antibody response to the vaccine is strong enough at 2 years to protect about 90% of HIV-negative women against HPV [human papillomavirus]. “But in our population, with approximately a year and a half of follow-up, that number decreased to about 63%. There’s a much more rapid decline in antibody levels” among HIV-positive women, “which suggests this population might in fact benefit from a booster,” said lead investigator Erin Moses, R.N., a researcher at the Women’s Health Research Institute in Vancouver, B.C.