COVID-19 vaccines are designed primarily for Preventing severe illness and deathTwo purposes for which they continue to function very well. But when the footage was first released, many people were also hoping to stop it or even vice versa Symptoms of long-term COVID-19, such as fatigue, cognitive impairment, chronic pain, and neurological problems.
Right now, it’s clear that even fully vaccinated and boosted people can get long COVID, and recent research suggests that vaccines aren’t long-distance COVID shields people would like.
Studies have come up with very different estimates about the degree of protection that vaccines provide against the long-running coronavirus. But some recent findings suggest somewhat disappointing protection. in one July report From the UK Office for National Statistics, more than 4% of vaccinated and booster adults in the UK who had delta or omicron BA.1 or BA.2 still had symptoms after at least 12 weeks. a The pre-print was published online 6 (which has not yet been revised) indicates that the situation is no better in US researchers’ survey of people surveyed from June to July, Because BA.5 was taking over. Of those who said they had COVID-19 at least a month ago, nearly 20% developed symptoms that lasted at least four weeks, with little difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated people.
This does not mean that vaccines are useless against the long-running coronavirus. research review Posted in Clinical Medicine In August, I analyzed a combination of peer-reviewed studies and pre-print studies, six of which looked at whether people who had been vaccinated before infection had a lower chance of catching long-term COVID compared to unvaccinated people who had contracted the disease. All six studies concluded that vaccinated people had a lower risk.
Read more: Should you mix and match Omicron boosters? Here’s what you need to know
At first, the vaccines seemed to be very protective against the long-running COVID illness. I suggested some 2021 research The vaccinated people were up to 50% less likely to develop prolonged COVID After a breakthrough infection, compared to unvaccinated people who contracted COVID-19. But A large study published in nature medicine in mayo He came to a less encouraging conclusion: he found that vaccinated people were only 15% less likely to have long-term COVID than their unvaccinated counterparts.
Studies have reached a wide range of estimates due to differences in how they are designed, how long people are tracked, and How did they identify Long COVIDZiyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the Saint Louis Health Care System for Veterans Affairs, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, and co-author of nature medicine study. But regardless of the exact numbers, “the common thread is that vaccines provide some protection, but they are never completed,” he says. “It’s partial.”
Al-Ali explains that this makes sense. The shots were not designed with chronic symptoms in mind, but instead to reduce the severity of acute illness, providing some secondary benefits of long-term COVID prevention. Although anyone can develop this condition, People with severe initial cases of COVID-19 are most at riskSo the fact that vaccines tend to keep cases milder, hopefully, means that fewer people will develop lasting complications.
Early in the vaccine’s distribution, some anecdotal reports also raised hope that the vaccines could improve symptoms among people who have already had prolonged COVID-19. But it is still not clear whether this is true. authors Clinical Medicine A review of the research was unable to find a strong consensus in the 11 studies they analyzed on this topic: seven studies found that patients with prolonged COVID symptoms improved after vaccination, while four found that they remained the same or worsened. in rare cases, People have also reported prolonged COVID-19-like symptoms After vaccination, even if they were not infected with the virus on purpose.
Omicron’s new boosters It only raises more questions about vaccination and the long-running coronavirus, Al-Ali points out, as researchers haven’t had a chance to study it yet. He says he hopes that in the future researchers will develop vaccines that provide long-term protection against all variants, prevent transmission of the virus, and long-term prevention of COVID. Some of these efforts are underway, as scientists work to develop Nasal Vaccines Can reduce the risk of infection and Screenshots can target many different coronaviruses at once.
For now, even if vaccinated and strengthened and Previously injured People are not immune to the long illness of COVID. Any infection can lead to long-term complications, which underlines the importance of limiting exposure to the virus as much as possible.
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