In a message on social media, commentator Katie Hopkins claimed that Australia had developed a COVID-19 vaccine that uses HIV for a ‘seasonal flu’. While scientists have developed a vaccine for COVID-19 with a fragment of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protein, the disease is not the same as the seasonal flu.
‘To protect people from a seasonal flu with a recovery rate of 99.7%, Australia has made a vaccine with HIV. Welcome to 2020 ”, Hopkins wrote on Instagram (here).
The report refers to a COVID-19 vaccine developed by The University of Queensland, which used a fragment of an HIV virus protein as a component to stabilize the vaccine (here).
Although there were no safety issues, the vaccine was discontinued after trials showed that antibodies on some HIV tests could lead to false positivity (here).
The University of Queensland has confirmed that there is no possibility that the vaccine would have caused infection, and that routine follow-up tests confirm that the HIV virus was not present (here).
Health Minister Brendan Murphy said the vaccine’s development had been canceled for fear it could undermine public confidence.
‘All the evidence suggests that it will be an effective vaccine. But we can not risk trust in the public “, he said (here).
‘It was important to keep the public’s trust. But I emphasize that it was excellent research, that it was a good platform and probably an effective vaccine to prevent coronavirus. ‘
The report also claims that COVID-19 is a “seasonal flu”.
Although there are similarities between seasonal flu and COVID-19, they are not the same. The flu is caused by a flu virus, while SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is a coronavirus (here).
Both can be transmitted by drops or contact, and share symptoms such as cough, fever and shortness of breath (here).
Some scientists have also suggested that COVID-19, like flu, may become seasonal (here).
One important difference, however, is the reproductive number – the number of secondary infections of one infected person – which according to COVID-19 is higher than the flu (here).
It usually takes a person longer to develop symptoms of COVID-19 than flu (here).
A person with the flu usually develops symptoms between 1 and 4 days after infection, but for COVID-19 it can vary between 2 and 14 days.
The most important difference, however, is the mortality rate.
While the exact mortality rate for COVID-19 has not yet been calculated, data so far indicate that it is higher than the flu (here).
VERDICT
Partly false. While scientists have developed a vaccine for COVID-19 using an HIV virus protein, the disease is not the same as the seasonal flu.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to actually check social media posts.