The most important thing that COVID vaccines do is prevent deaths and serious illness from COVID-19. The next most important thing they do is prevent many cases of milder illnesses – a job in which they are not perfect, but it is much better to get vaccinated than not. But, and the long COVID, the mysterious long-term symptoms that can follow some coronavirus infections?
The long COVID is still not well understood
One of the reasons why it is difficult to get a direct answer to this question is because the long COVID is difficult to define and has been difficult to study. The symptoms of long COVID overlap with those of other conditions, including what was formerly called chronic fatigue syndrome. It is difficult to study what cannot be defined.
Chronic fatigue, now better known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, is also believed to be triggered by viral infections, at least sometimes. And if you have this disease or know someone who has it, you’ll know the frustrations of medical professionals who don’t know how to diagnose it and what treatments may work best. And this, in turn, is partly the result of the difficulty of studying it. It’s an endless cycle of “more research is needed”.
Fortunately, many researchers take COVID seriously, but it will still be some time before we get solid answers to any of our questions about it, including how to prevent it.
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Prevention of COVID cases avoids long cases of COVID
Logically, long COVID cannot be obtained unless you have had COVID. All COVID vaccines were authorized because they are effective in preventing serious COVID infections, so if you have been vaccinated, you have automatically reduced your chances of getting long COVID by reducing your chances of getting COVID.
The CDC agrees with this logic, stating his page on the long COVID this “The best way to prevent post-COVID conditions [their name for long COVID] is to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as you can. ”
The vaccine probably does making COVID less likely to become a long COVID
Another area of current research is what happens when people receive COVID despite being vaccinated. These cases, called advanced cases, are relatively uncommon, but not unpublished.
Advanced cases appear to be milder than cases in unvaccinated people. Vaccinated people who receive COVID are less likely to get serious illness, spend time in hospital, or die from their infection. A recent non-profit Fair Health study found that people with more severe symptoms are more likely to have a long COVID than people with very mild symptoms.
Another recent study, published in Lancet, found that people who were fully vaccinated were less likely to experience long-term symptoms. Specifically:
We found that the chances of having symptoms for 28 days or more after infection after vaccination were reduced by about half by having two doses of vaccine. This result suggests that the risk of long-term COVID is reduced in individuals who have received double vaccination, considering, in addition, the documented risk of infection already documented.
I would never rely on the results of a single study to tell us everything we need to know, as later studies could reveal more information than previous ones did not take into account. But so far the evidence points in the direction of vaccines, reducing the chances of obtaining long COVID by preventing COVID in general and possibly too by reducing the chances that the usual COVID may advance towards the long-haul type.