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(Content warning: offensive language in paragraph 7)
A clip from a BBC documentary about an Australian COVID-19 vaccine trial has been misleadingly shared online in posts suggesting that an HIV protein incorporated in the vaccine design is dangerous.
The programme, titled “Horizon Special: The Vaccine”, documented the development, by the University of Queensland and biotechnology company CSL, of a COVID vaccine candidate that never made it to market.
Excerpts from the documentary in the social media post explain a design feature of the vaccine that used a single protein from the HIV virus as a stabilising clamp to hold the coronavirus spike protein in a specific shape.
The 63-second video begins with a social media narrator saying: “This is utter madness. This is science gone absolutely mad,” while text overlaid on the footage reads: “Did she just say they added a tiny fragment of hiv? Wtf! We want answers!!! Yes she said HIV”.
In the excerpt from the full BBC documentary, the programme’s narrator explains that the distinctive shape of the coronavirus before it latches onto human cells is important to the ability of the immune system to recognize the virus, and how the vaccine candidate used an HIV protein as a so-called molecular clamp to lock coronavirus spike proteins in a specific shape. The excerpt then cuts to Keith Chappell, who co-led the University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine program.
Explaining the reason behind choosing the HIV protein, Chappell says on-camera that the protein was picked because it’s well understood and presents no risks, including having no role in helping HIV to make copies of itself: “It’s a highly stable structure. There is absolutely no risk from this type of vaccine. There’s nothing that makes HIV replicate”.
As Chappell finishes speaking, the narrator of the social media clip says: “Fucking rubbish.”
HIV PROTEIN ‘MISREPRESENTED’
The prospective vaccine only contained an HIV protein, not the virus itself, a spokesperson for CSL told Reuters for a previous fact-check.
“There is no possibility that it could cause HIV,” the spokesperson said, although the vaccine trials did show the protein could interfere with HIV diagnoses because the presence of the protein fragment triggered false-positive HIV test results in the COVID-vaccine trial participants.
“Follow-up tests have confirmed a false positive reading in all phase 1 clinical trial participants, who demonstrated a reactive result in certain HIV tests,” the CSL spokesperson added.
A BBC spokesperson told Reuters the social media clip misrepresented the decision to use the HIV protein, saying via email that it was used to stabilise the structure of the vaccine. “It was a molecular clamp to hold the spike protein in place”.
Chappell echoed this, telling Reuters via email: “The protein used was a fragment (81 aminoacids only) from glycoprotein 41 from HIV-1. This was used to stabilise the structure of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein.”
Noting that the social media narrator refers to his statements about the protein in the documentary excerpt as “rubbish,” Chappell said, “it is not, this is a fact”.
VACCINE CANDIDATE DROPPED
The social media clip fails to acknowledge that the production of the Australian vaccine candidate was halted following the discovery that it temporarily caused false-positive HIV tests due to the presence of the protein.
This interference with HIV diagnosis constituted “a possible barrier to widespread use” of the vaccine, the study team wrote in its report on the phase 1 trial, published in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.
The study showed no other safety concerns and side-effects that are typical of many vaccines, such as pain at the injection site and headache (Figure 2), the researchers reported.
A joint statement by CSL and the University of Queensland on Dec. 11, 2020 confirmed that development would stop before phase 2 trials commenced, despite the vaccine candidate eliciting “a robust response towards (COVID-19) and (having) a strong safety profile”.
The BBC reported on the decision at the time, while the broadcaster’s spokesperson also told Reuters that its Horizon Special documentary included the decision not to manufacture the vaccine after the initial trial.
This explanation for why the vaccine was dropped was also echoed by Chappell, who added: “This has nothing to do with other vaccines.”
VERDICT
Misleading. The Australian vaccine candidate contained an HIV protein which posed no safety threat, but led the vaccine candidate to be dropped before ever making it to larger trials because it produced false-positive test results for HIV.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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