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The influenza vaccine may provide life-saving protection against COVID-19, concludes new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), held online this year.
Analysis of patient data around the world strongly suggests that the annual influenza vaccine reduces the risk of stroke, sepsis and DVT in patients with COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 who had been vaccinated against the flu were also less likely to go to the emergency room and be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Vaccinating the world against COVID-19 is a tall order, and although vaccine production and distribution is increasing daily, some countries are not expected to vaccinate large portions of their populations until early 2023.
Recently, several small studies have suggested that the flu vaccine may offer protection against COVID-19, which means it could be a valuable weapon in the fight to stop the pandemic.
Ms. Susan Taghioff, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, USA, and her colleagues performed a retrospective analysis of data on tens of thousands of patients around the world to find out more.
In the largest study of its kind, the team sifted through anonymized electronic health records held in the TriNetX research database of more than 70 million patients to identify two groups of 37,377 patients.
The two groups were matched for factors that could affect their risk for severe COVID-19, including age, gender, ethnicity, smoking, and health issues such as diabetes, obesity, and pregnancy. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Members of the first group had received the flu shot between two weeks and six months before being diagnosed with COVID-19. Those in the second group also had COVID-19 but were not vaccinated against the flu. The study was conducted on patients from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel and Singapore.
The incidence of 15 adverse reactions (sepsis; stroke; deep vein thrombosis or DVT; pulmonary embolism; acute respiratory failure; acute respiratory distress syndrome; arthralgia or joint pain; renal failure; anorexia; heart attack; pneumonia; visits to clinics; emergency departments; hospitalization; ICU admission; and death) within 120 days of testing positive for COVID-19 was then compared between the two groups.
The analysis found that those who had not received the flu shot were significantly more likely (up to 20% more likely) to have been admitted to intensive care.
They were also significantly more likely to go to the emergency room (up to 58% more likely), to develop sepsis (up to 45% more likely), to have a stroke (up to 58% more likely) and DVT (up to 40% more likely). The risk of death has not been reduced.
It is not clear exactly how the influenza vaccine provides protection against COVID-19, but most theories revolve around it to strengthen the innate immune system – “general” defenses that we are born with that are not suited to. no particular disease.
The study authors say their results strongly suggest that the flu vaccine protects against several serious effects of COVID-19. They add that more research is needed to prove and better understand the possible link but, in the future, the flu vaccine could be used to help provide increased protection in countries where the COVID-19 vaccine is rare.
Dr Devinder Singh, lead author of the study and professor of plastic surgery at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, said: “Only a small fraction of the world has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date. and, with all the devastation that has occurred as a result of the pandemic, the global community has yet to find solutions to reduce morbidity and mortality.
“Having access to real-time data from millions of patients is a powerful research tool. In addition to asking important questions, this allowed my team to observe an association between the influenza vaccine and lower morbidity in COVID-19 patients.
“This finding is particularly important as the pandemic is straining resources in many parts of the world. Therefore, our research – if validated by prospective randomized clinical trials – has the potential to reduce the global burden of disease. . “
Ms. Taghioff adds, “The flu shot may even benefit people who are reluctant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to newer technology.
“Despite this, the flu vaccine is in no way a substitute for the COVID-19 vaccine and we advocate that everyone receive their COVID-19 vaccine if possible.
“The continued promotion of the influenza vaccine also has the potential to help people around the world avoid a possible ‘twindemic’ – a simultaneous outbreak of the flu and the coronavirus.
“Regardless of how well the influenza vaccine protects against the adverse effects associated with COVID-19, just being able to conserve the world’s health care resources by controlling the number of influenza cases is reason enough to advocate for continued efforts to promote influenza vaccination. ”
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