(Web Desk) - Getting at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine before your first bout of infection can significantly cut the risk of developing long Covid, according to a new study.
Researchers from Sweden, who published findings Wednesday on The BMJ, analyzed data from over half a million Swedes aged 18 and over, who registered their first COVID infection between December 2020 and February 2022.
Unvaccinated individuals, the study found, were almost four times more likely to be diagnosed with long covid than those who were vaccinated before their first COVID infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long covid, also known as post-COVID conditions, is a condition in which some people infected with COVID-19 experience a variety of long-term symptoms that can last weeks, months or years after the infection resolves.
Symptoms are usually hard to explain and manage. People with long COVID have reported a wide range of symptoms, such as fatigue, brain fog, fever, shortness of breath, fast-beating heart, cough, chest pain, sleep problems, joint pain, difficulty thinking clearly and depression or anxiety among other things.
In this large-scale observational study, the researchers analyzed the follow-up time period from the timestamp of their first COVID infection until they reported a diagnosis of long COVID, vaccination, reinfection or death — whichever came first.
Of the 299,692 vaccinated individuals from the study, around 1,201 were diagnosed with long COVID during the follow-up period, compared with 4,118 long COVID cases among the 290,003 unvaccinated participants.
Furthermore, the researchers noted that the vaccine effectiveness against long COVID greatly improved with each successive dose, especially when taken before contracting the viral infection.
For example, the first dose of COVID vaccine was found to reduce the risk of long COVID by 22%. However, a second dose reduced the risk by 59%. Staying up to date with three or more doses of COVID vaccines reduced the odds of long COVID by 73%.
While there is plenty of evidence to support the effectiveness of the COVID vaccine against serious illness and death from viral infection, the research on the vaccine’s effects on long COVID is still ongoing and remains unclear.
As of today, there is no specific test to confirm the symptoms are linked to long COVID.
But the new findings, experts in an accompanying editorial also published in The BMJ wrote that, given the plausible link of COVID infection with the risk of developing long-term COVID symptoms, it is “prudent to advocate timely vaccination to reduce the healthcare burden and adverse impact on the economy.”
“[The evidence] underlines the importance of timely vaccination during pandemics. Future pandemic preparedness plans should continue to prioritize prompt manufacture, evaluation, and distribution of vaccines, and mass vaccination to reduce a pandemic’s impact on health,” the researchers stated.