The potential risks of live vaccines need to be weighed against the benefits in immunocompromised individuals who may be particularly vulnerable to the vaccine-preventable disease. Concerns are that they may not respond adequately to subunit and inactivated vaccination and that LAV vaccines are potentially pathogenic.

Routine childhood vaccinations – except BCG vacci­na­ti­on72– are not contraindicated in children with asymp­to­ma­tic HIV-infection; however, timing of vaccination may be earlier or more frequent in this subgroup.

In symptomatic HIV/AIDS, LAV vaccines are contraindicated, e.g. measles and yellow fever vaccines should not be given.