Does the Vaccine Protect from Long-COVID?

In our previous posts, we have discussed “What is Long-COVID?” and “Who gets Long-COVID?” Take a look at them for more information on those topics. In this post, we will focus on whether the vaccine protects someone from the symptoms of long-COVID.

Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection has been proven to be one of the most effective interventions deployed to control the COVID-19 pandemic since its 2020 roll-out campaign. Many studies have proved that COVID-19 vaccines reduce the rates of serious illness and death [1-6], but to determine the risk of suffering from long-COVID is more challenging for researchers. 

There are several survey articles that collected information from vaccinated and unvaccinated people. It is shown that there is a significantly lower number of people with long-COVID symptoms in the vaccinated group and those with long-COVID report having symptoms at a lower intensity [7,8]. This could be due to a reduced chance of catching COVID for those who are vaccinated. However, there are always exceptions, and there are case reports showing that people can still get long-COVID even two months after full vaccination [9]. 

Although it can be discouraging not knowing if the vaccine does or does not protect us against long-COVID, many researchers continue studying this syndrome. The US Congress has allocated funds to carry out a long-COVID research programme called RECOVER [10]; and several other countries, like the UK [2], have been monitoring post-COVID patients via mobile applications, phone calls, and other means. Currently, there is no way to know if vaccination has any influence on long-COVID symptoms, but we will continue updating you when more results come to light. 

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Written by: Phaedra

Edited by: María and Natasha

BioDecoded is a volunteer group committed to sharing accurate scientific information. For more information about vaccines and their safety profile, please see previous posts or consult with your personal physician. If you have any questions about this topic, please comment or send them to our email.

References:

1. Baden, L. et al. (2021) “Efficacy and safety of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine”, New England Journal of Medicine, 384, pp. 403-416. Available at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2035389

2. Dagan, N. et al. (2021) “BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine in a nationwide mass vaccination setting”, New England Journal of Medicine, 384, pp. 1412-1423. Available at: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2101765

3. Hass, E J. et al. (2021) “Impact and effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-Cov-2 infections and COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations, and deaths following a nationwide vaccination campaign in Israel: an observational study using national surveillance data”, Lancet, 397(10287): 1819–1829. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8099315/

4. Vasileiou, E. et al. (2021) “Effectiveness of First Dose of COVID-19 Vaccines Against Hospital Admissions in Scotland: National Prospective Cohort Study of 5.4 Million People”, SSRN Electronic Journal, PREPRINT. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3789264

5. Tenforde, M. et al. (2021) “Effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccines for Preventing Covid-19 Hospitalizations in the United States”, MedRxiv, PREPRINT. Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.08.21259776v1

6. Pawlowski, C. et al. (2021) “FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are effective per real-world evidence synthesized across a multi-state health system”, MedRxiv, PREPRINT . Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.15.21251623v3

7. Antonelli, M. et al. (2022) “Risk factors and disease profile of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 infection in UK users of the COVID Symptom Study app: a prospective, community-based, nested, case-control study”, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 22(1), pp. 43-55. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(21)00460-6/fulltext

8. Technical article: Updated estimates of the prevalence of post-acute symptoms among people with coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK – Office for National Statistics (2022). Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/technicalarticleupdatedestimatesoftheprevalenceofpostacutesymptomsamongpeoplewithcoronaviruscovid19intheuk/26april2020to1august2021 (Accessed: 21 February 2022)

9. Penetra, S. et al. (2022) “Post-acute COVID-19 syndrome after reinfection and vaccine breakthrough by the SARS-CoV-2 Gamma variant in Brazil”, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 114, pp. 58-61. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971221008365

10. RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (2022). Available at: https://recovercovid.org/ (Accessed: 21 February 2022).