# Risk Factors for AIDS among Persons Who Inject Drugs: HIV and COVID-19

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $776,533

## Abstract

Abstract
It is difficult to underestimate the potential public health significance of the COVID-19 pandemic for generating
new outbreaks of HIV among PWID. While public health scale implementation of “combined prevention and
care for HIV” among PWID has led to dramatic reductions in HIV transmission in many high-income countries,
multiple outbreaks of HIV have also occurred, e.g., in the US, Western and Eastern Europe, and Israel. While
there were distinct features of each outbreak, a number of common features were noted across the outbreaks,
including: 1) community economic dislocations, 2) inadequate or interrupted HIV prevention services, 3) local
introduction of new injectable drugs, and 4) homeless PWID as a very high-risk group. The COVID-19
pandemic and its associated lockdown/control measures appear to be re-creating the very conditions that
generated HIV outbreaks among PWID in the pre- COVID-19 era. The recent FDA emergency use
authorization of effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccines provides a critical opportunity to alleviate some—but certainly
not all—of the threats to HIV prevention. However, important potential difficulties in rapidly vaccinating large
numbers of PWID exist. We propose to examine relationships between HIV, COVID-19, and racial/ethnic
disparities among PWID in NYC, a location that has experienced the world’s largest local HIV epidemic among
PWID, and one of the world’s largest local COVID-19 epidemics, through four specific aims:
1. Assess short term (within 3 years) impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV risk among PWID in NYC,
including potential increases in critical bio-behavioral risks (composite risk for HIV transmission and composite
multi-person risk for HIV acquisition).
2. Monitor SARS-CoV-2 vaccination over time among PWID in NYC. Identify factors associated with receiving
vaccination, including ‘underlying health conditions,” socio-demographics, particularly race/ethnicity and
employment, vaccine awareness and attitudes, and across patterns of drug use. Examine peer, family and
“trusted sources” influences on receiving vaccination. Educate participants on SARS-CoV-2 vaccines,
including availability, types, side effects and scheduling. Assess the extent to which “herd immunity” is being
achieved among PWID.
3. Utilize antibody testing to estimate past and incident COVID-19 infection among PWID, identifying risk
factors for infection, including race/ethnicity, and whether practicing protective behaviors is associated with
lower seroprevalence.
4. Using principal component analysis (PCA), examine relationships between multiple health problems and
social determinants of health among PWID in NYC, including HIV, COVID-19, HCV, opioid and stimulant use,
drug overdose, homelessness, and economic and food insecurity, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Examine
patterns of racial/ethnic disparities among the clusters of health and social determinants of health.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10448450
- **Project number:** 5R01DA003574-38
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Don C Des Jarlais
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $776,533
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1994-09-10 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10448450

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10448450, Risk Factors for AIDS among Persons Who Inject Drugs: HIV and COVID-19 (5R01DA003574-38). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10448450. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*