Vaccines may offer ‘partial protection’ against long COVID

COVID-19 vaccinations may only offer limited protection against long COVID symptoms, according to a study published this week in the peer-reviewed Nature science journal.

 

Researchers for the VA St. Louis Healthcare System reviewed data from the Department of Veterans Affairs national health care databases to compare people with breakthrough cases of COVID-19 to individuals with no documented history of testing positive for coronavirus.

 

Compared to people who appeared to have never had COVID-19, individuals with breakthrough cases were found to have a higher risk of death and a higher risk of developing long COVID symptoms including issues with their heart, their digestive system, kidneys and mental health.

 

Researchers made these comparisons based on follow-ups six months after initial infection.

 

However, individuals with breakthrough cases were still observed to be at a lower risk of these effects when compared to unvaccinated COVID-19 survivors.

 

“Altogether, the findings suggest that vaccination before infection confers only partial protection in the post-acute phase of the disease; hence, reliance on it as a sole mitigation strategy may not optimally reduce long-term health consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the researchers wrote.