Study puts understanding of long COVID and vaccination into question

A brand new examine from researchers on the Mayo Clinic means that being vaccinated towards COVID-19 does little to stop lengthy COVID.

The findings contradict what has turn out to be standard knowledge within the final 3 years—that vaccines provide an opportunity to considerably scale back the danger of lengthy COVID, or new or persistent signs 3 months or extra after an infection, almost definitely by decreasing the severity of an infection. 

Melanie Swift, MD, MPH, was the lead creator of the examine, which was revealed in Open Discussion board Infectious Illnesses. She mentioned regardless of the present considering that vaccines scale back the danger of creating lengthy COVID, she wasn’t stunned she discovered no affiliation. 

“A variety of the early literature on lengthy COVID was actually defining lengthy COVID by means of affected person surveys,“ Swift instructed CIDRAP Information. Swift’s examine as a substitute relied on members having obtained a long-COVID analysis from a doctor after having a documented case of post-vaccination COVID-19 an infection. 

6.9% developed lengthy COVID

The examine was based mostly on the digital information of 41,652 folks aged 5 years or older with SARS-CoV-2–optimistic polymerase chain response (PCR) assessments between February 2021 and December 2022 and a analysis of lengthy COVID 30 days to six months following an infection.

The typical age of sufferers was 41 years, 55.2% had been feminine, and 90.7% had been White. On the time of preliminary an infection, 9,744 (23.4 %) had been vaccinated with two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, and seven,658 (18.4 %) had obtained greater than two mRNA doses.

A complete of 8.2% of sufferers required hospitalization for COVID-19, and most infections occurred throughout the Delta and Omicron eras (39.8% and 47.1%, respectively).

In complete, 6.9% of sufferers had been identified as having lengthy COVID, with no noticed distinction between unvaccinated sufferers, these vaccinated with two doses of an mRNA vaccine, and people with greater than two doses.

If you do not get COVID, you do not get lengthy COVID.

Lengthy COVID was related to older age, feminine intercourse, and hospitalization for the preliminary an infection. It was inversely related to an infection throughout the Omicron interval, the authors wrote.

Swift mentioned that vaccines nonetheless play a job in stopping lengthy COVID. “If you do not get COVID, you do not get lengthy COVID,“ she mentioned. “It stays an important medical instruments in our arsenal by advantage of not getting COVID and extreme COVID, however we are able to’t cease there and say ‘in case you had been vaccinated, you don’t have to fret about lengthy COVID.’ “

Confounding elements and well being behaviors

Clifford Rosen, MD, a senior scientist on the MaineHealth Institute for Analysis, has reviewed research on lengthy COVID and vaccines. He mentioned the present examine could also be skewed due to its pattern dimension. 

“It is a small cohort that’s comparatively homogeneous and sure has completely different healthcare habits than different EHR [electronic health record] research,“ Rosen mentioned. As an alternative, he mentioned lengthy COVID research finished based mostly on Veterans Affairs (VA) information provide a extra heterogenous cohort. 

Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, chief of analysis and growth on the VA St Louis Well being Care System and a scientific epidemiologist at Washington College, has been behind most VA research on lengthy COVID. 

He simply revealed a evaluation of proof displaying that vaccination reduces the danger of lengthy COVID. Whereas the impact dimension varies by 15% to 70%, there may be an estimated common discount of 40% to 50%, nearly universally.

He mentioned he discovered Swift’s examine stunning and mentioned it possible suffers from one foremost confounding issue: The kind of affected person who seeks out a long-COVID analysis possible makes use of healthcare and is vaccinated.

Al-Aly mentioned vaccination could assist scale back some clusters of long-COVID signs higher than others. For instance, his work has proven a “profound impact in pulmonary signs of COVID, and fewer on metabolic results on lengthy COVID.”

Although extra analysis wants be finished on lengthy COVID and vaccination, Al-Aly stays assured that vaccines play an essential function in decreasing the danger of lengthy COVID.