Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2019 | Vaccination | Research article
Patients’ high acceptability of a future therapeutic HIV vaccine in France: a French paradox?
Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2019
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Background
France is the European country with the lowest level of confidence in vaccines. Measurement of patients’ acceptability towards a future therapeutic HIV vaccine is critically important. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate patients’ acceptability of a future therapeutic HIV vaccine in a representative cohort of French patients living with HIV-AIDS (PLWHs).
Methods
This multicentre study used quantitative and qualitative methods to assess PLWHs’ opinions and their potential acceptance of a future therapeutic HIV vaccine. Cross-sectional study on 220 HIV-1 infected outpatients, aged 18–75 years.
Results
The participants’ characteristics were similar to those of the overall French PLWH population. Responses from the questionnaires showed high indices of acceptance: the mean score for acceptability on the Visual Analog Scale VAS was 8.4 of 10, and 92% of patients agreed to be vaccinated if a therapeutic vaccine became available. Acceptability depended on the expected characteristics of the vaccine, notably the duration of its effectiveness: 44% of participants expected it to be effective for life. This acceptance was not associated with socio-demographic, clinical (mode of contamination, duration of disease), quality of life, or illness-perception parameters. Acceptability was also strongly correlated with confidence in the treating physician.
Conclusion
The PLWHs within our cohort had high indices of acceptance to a future therapeutic HIV vaccine.
Trial registration
This study was retroactively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with ID: NCT02077101 in February 21, 2014.