Increased clinician confidence and uptake of event-based PrEP by men who have sex with men during the COVID-19 pandemic

HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can either be used daily or as an event-based dosing (EBD) regimen by men who have sex with men (MSMs) having condomless anal sex to prevent HIV transmission; however, clinicians with expertise delivering daily PrEP often lack confidence delivering EBD–PrEP.1 During the COVID-19 pandemic, MSMs appear to have tailored their sexual behaviour in line with local social restrictions, including the way they use PrEP.2 We aimed to explore the proportion of MSMs using EBD–PrEP since the national rollout of PrEP in the UK (between October and December 2020) and clinician confidence delivering EBD–PrEP.

There were 551 MSMs seen who were eligible for PrEP in the study period, of which 448 were prescribed PrEP (64 declined, 2 stopped, 8 new patients and 29 repeat attenders accessed PrEP from another source). The median age of PrEP users was 37 years (IQR=29–48). Overall, 94/448 (21%, 95%…

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