Studies have shown that unvaccinated people are at higher risk, but more tools are needed against the virus.
Vaccinated people with mild, groundbreaking COVID-19 infections affect the heart, brain, lungs, and other body parts, according to researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis and St. Louis Veterans. You may experience protracted debilitating symptoms. Medical system. However, in a new study of more than 13 million veterans, vaccination against the virus that causes COVID-19 reduces the risk of death by 34% compared to unvaccinated patients, COVID-19. We also found that the risk of getting longer was reduced by 15%. virus.
Even people vaccinated against a mild, groundbreaking COVID-19 infection affect the heart, brain, lungs, and other body parts, according to a new study from the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Department in St. Louis. You may experience protracted symptoms of debilitating giving. .. Lewis Healthcare System.
In a study of more than 13 million vaccinated vaccinated people, vaccination against the virus that causes COVID-19 increases the risk of death and COVID by 34% compared to unvaccinated patients infected with the virus. We also found that the risk was reduced by 15%. However, the vaccine is most effective in preventing some of the most annoying symptoms of long COVID (lung and blood coagulopathy), reduced by about 49% and 56%, respectively, among vaccinated individuals. It was shown that there is.
This study was published in Nature Medicine on May 25th.
“Vaccination remains very important in the fight against COVID-19,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the lead author and clinical epidemiologist at the University of Washington. “Vaccination reduces the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. However, the vaccine seems to provide only adequate protection against long COVIDs. People who have recovered from the breakthrough COVID-19 infection You should continue to monitor your health and consult your health care provider if you have difficulty living your daily life due to prolonged symptoms. “
Researchers classified patients as fully vaccinated if they received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson / Janssen vaccine. At the time the study was conducted, the database used for this study did not contain information about whether the patient had boosted immunity.
“Now that we understand that COVID-19 can have protracted health effects even among vaccinated people, it is unlikely that COVID-19 will disappear soon, so it can be implemented in the long term. We need to work on the development of mitigation strategies, “said Alary, Head of Research and Development for the VA St. Louis Healthcare System. “To mitigate the risk of long COVIDs, we need to urgently develop and deploy additional layers of protection that can be implemented sustainably.”
Such protective layers may include nasal vaccines that are more convenient or stronger than current injections, or other types of vaccines or drugs aimed at minimizing the risk of long COVIDs. ..
“Even among vaccinated people, COVID-19 vaccination seems almost inevitable today,” said Al-Aly, 8-12 of people vaccinated against breakthrough infections. % Said that they could develop long COVID. “Our current approach can leave many untreated, chronic and potentially impaired people. This is not only their health, but their ability to work and life expectancy. It also affects economic productivity and social welfare. We need to have a frank national discussion about the outcome of our current approach. “
Since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 524 million people worldwide have been infected with the virus. More than 6 million of them died. This includes over 1 million people in the United States alone.
“Let’s say SARS-CoV-2 has been here for 10 years,” continued Al-Aly. “People are tired of masking and increasing social distance, and asking them to continue is not just sustainable. An additional layer of protection to allow them to resume normal life while coexisting with the virus. The current vaccine is only part of the solution. “
In this study, researchers analyzed anonymized medical records of more than 13 million veterans... Records are in a database maintained by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated medical delivery system in the United States. Researchers have data from 113,474 unvaccinated COVID-19 patients and 33,940 vaccinated patients who experienced a breakthrough infection with COVID-19 between January 1st and October 31st, 2021. I checked.
Most patients with COVID-19 were elderly Caucasian men. However, researchers also analyzed data that included more than 1.3 million women and adults of all ages and races.
This study does not include data on Omicron variants of the virus that began to spread rapidly in late 2021. However, Al-Aly said previous studies suggest that the vaccine is effective against all current mutants.
Among the other findings of the study:
- In addition to heart, brain, and lung-related complications, other symptoms associated with long COVID included disorders related to kidney, blood clotting, mental health, metabolism, gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal systems. ..
- The risk of long-term COVID was 17% higher among vaccinated and immune-vulnerable people with breakthrough infections compared to previously healthy and vaccinated people who experienced breakthrough infections.
- An analysis of 3,667 vaccinated patients hospitalized for a breakthrough COVID-19 infection showed that they experienced a 2.5 times higher risk of death than those hospitalized for influenza. There was also a 27% higher risk of long-term COVID in the first 30 days after diagnosis, compared to 14,337 hospitalized for seasonal influenza.
- The dataset also compared long-term health status with more than 5.75 million pre-pandemic controls (ie, COVID-19 had never been infected because it was not yet present). Overall, people infected with the breakthrough COVID-19 are at significantly higher risk of death and illness, including heart and lung disease, neurological conditions, and renal failure.
“A series of findings show that the death and illness burden experienced by people with breakthrough COVID-19 infections is not trivial,” said Al-Aly.
