Photo: OlegRi (Shutterstock) The most essential thing that the COVID vaccines do is prevent deaths and extreme illness from COVID-19. The next most essential thing they do is prevent many cases of milder health problem– a job theyre not best at, but its still far better to be immunized than not. However what about long COVID, the still-mysterious long-term signs that can follow some coronavirus infections?Long COVID is still not well understoodOne of the factors its tough to get a straight answer on this question is because long COVID itself is hard to specify and has been hard to study. Symptoms of long COVID overlap with those of other conditions, including what used to be called persistent fatigue syndrome. Its tough to study what you cant specify. Chronic fatigue, now much better understood as myalgic encephalomyelitis, is also thought to be triggered by viral infections, a minimum of a few of the time. And if you have this condition or understand anyone who does, youll be familiar with the aggravations that come with physician being not sure of how to diagnose it and what treatments might work best. And this, in turn, remains in part the outcome of the problem in studying it. Its an endless cycle of “more research study is required.” Lots of researchers are taking long COVID seriously, but it will still be a while before we get solid answers to any of our concerns about it, consisting of how to avoid it. G/O Media may get a commissionPreventing COVID cases prevents long COVID casesLogically, you cant get long COVID unless youve had COVID. All of the COVID vaccines were licensed because they work at preventing severe COVID infections, so if youve been vaccinated, youve immediately lowered your opportunities of getting long COVID by decreasing your opportunities of getting COVID at all. The CDC agrees with this reasoning, mentioning on its page about long COVID that, “The finest way to avoid post-COVID conditions [their name for long COVID] is by getting vaccinated versus COVID-19 as quickly as you can.” When people get COVID despite being vaccinated, the vaccine most likely does make COVID less most likely to turn into long COVIDAnother area of current research study is what happens. These cases, called advancement cases, are relatively uncommon, but theyre not unheard-of. Development cases appear to be more mild than cases in unvaccinated people. Immunized individuals who get COVID are less likely have serious disease, to hang out in the hospital, or to die of their infection. A current research study by nonprofit Fair Health found that people with more serious signs are most likely to get long COVID than individuals with extremely mild signs. Another recent research study, published in the Lancet, found that people who were totally immunized were less most likely to experience long-lasting symptoms. Specifically: We found that the odds of having symptoms for 28 days or more after post-vaccination infection were approximately cut in half by having 2 vaccine dosages. This outcome suggests that the risk of long COVID is decreased in individuals who have actually received double vaccination, when additionally considering the already recorded decreased threat of infection overall.I would never ever rely on the results of a single research study to tell us whatever we need to understand, considering that later research studies might reveal more information that earlier ones missed. But up until now, the evidence is pointing in the instructions of vaccines decreasing your possibilities of getting long COVID both by avoiding COVID in basic and perhaps also by lowering the opportunities that routine COVID could advance to the long-haul kind.
What about long COVID, the still-mysterious long-lasting signs that can follow some coronavirus infections?Long COVID is still not well understoodOne of the reasons its hard to get a straight answer on this question is because long COVID itself is hard to define and has actually been hard to study. G/O Media might get a commissionPreventing COVID cases avoids long COVID casesLogically, you cant get long COVID unless youve had COVID. All of the COVID vaccines were licensed due to the fact that they are effective at preventing severe COVID infections, so if youve been vaccinated, youve automatically decreased your chances of getting long COVID by reducing your chances of getting COVID at all. So far, the evidence is pointing in the instructions of vaccines lowering your opportunities of getting long COVID both by preventing COVID in general and perhaps likewise by decreasing the possibilities that regular COVID might advance to the long-haul kind.