Being fully vaccinated halves chances of long Covid-19, British study finds

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“We found that the chances of having symptoms for 28 days or more after post-vaccination infection were approximately halved by having two doses of the vaccine. This result suggests that the risk of long-term COVID is reduced in people. who received a double vaccination, additionally considering the reduced risk of infection already documented overall, ”wrote researchers in the study published Wednesday in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Researchers, from institutions in the US and UK, analyzed self-reported data from adults in the UK who shared symptoms of Covid-19 using a mobile phone app called Covid Symptom Study. Researchers looked at symptoms self-reported by app users who reported receiving a Covid-19 vaccine between December 8, 2020 and July 4, 2021 – and compared symptoms of vaccinees with those who weren’t vaccinated .

The data included more than 1.2 million adults who reported receiving a first dose of the vaccine, and among them, 0.5%, or 6,030, tested positive for a breakthrough coronavirus infection after receiving this vaccine. first dose. Of the nearly one million adults who reported receiving a second dose of the vaccine, only 0.2% or 2,370 tested positive after completing both doses.

Certain groups were more vulnerable than others to peak infections, the researchers found, especially after their first dose of the vaccine: people aged 60 and over considered fragile and people living in “very disadvantaged areas”, such as densely populated communities. People who were not obese had a lower risk of infection after their first dose of the vaccine, the data showed.

But overall, researchers found that being vaccinated was associated with fewer reports of symptoms across all age groups if someone did contract the coronavirus.

Vaccination, compared with no vaccination, was associated with a reduced risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 or more than five symptoms in the first week of illness after a first or second dose, found researchers, and there was a reduced risk of long-term symptoms lasting 28 days or more after a second dose of the vaccine.

“Almost all of the individual symptoms of COVID-19 were less common in vaccinated participants than in unvaccinated participants,” the researchers wrote. “More people in the vaccinated groups than in the unvaccinated groups were completely asymptomatic.”

As for the long-term symptoms of Covid-19, some experts not involved in the new study note that there is still a lot to learn.

“Long COVID is explored in this study by assessing the proportion of cases whose symptoms persist for more than 28 days. However, the long COVID is still poorly understood and the persistence of symptoms after infection, as well as their severity, remains at risk. explorer, “Penny Ward, visiting professor of pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, who was not involved in the study, said Wednesday in a written statement distributed by the UK-based Science Media Center.

“It is encouraging, however, that the overall proportion of cases with persistent symptoms is reduced in patients who were previously fully vaccinated, which, combined with the milder overall illness and reduced need for hospital care, demonstrates the added benefit of vaccination to reduce disease severity. for individuals, ”said Ward, and reduce the burden on health systems by reducing the number of people requiring hospital care.

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