Vaccination will not worsen the “long COVID”

A small number of cases of patients receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine found that vaccination was not associated with worsening symptoms or quality of life in patients with persistent symptoms after COVID- 19 agut. These results may help alleviate vaccine hesitation in patients with persistent symptoms. A case report is published a Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK, studied 163 patients from a single UK hospital to describe quality of life and post-vaccination symptoms in a number of patients with persistent symptoms eight months after vaccination. hospitalization with COVID-19. Prior to vaccination, patients had a total of 159 symptoms organ systems, including fatigue (75%), shortness of breath (61%), and insomnia (53%). In addition, the quality of life was significantly reduced compared to the norm.

All participants were reevaluated approximately one month after receiving the vaccine and quality of life and symptom review questionnaires were repeated, with specific questions about whether symptoms had improved, persisted, or worsened. Participants were only asked to confirm vaccination status after assessment of symptoms to minimize bias due to a perceived association between assessment and vaccination. They were subsequently asked about the temporary effects related to the vaccine.

Among the 44 participants who had received a dose of vaccine, 82% reported at least one persistent symptom. Of the 159 symptoms reported before vaccination, 23.2% had improved, 5.6% had worsened, and 71.1% had remained the same. There was no significant worsening in quality of life metrics before or after vaccination. No difference in any outcome measures was identified between the two different vaccines.

According to the researchers, these observations are important because they can provide reassurance to the growing number of people experiencing persistent symptoms after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, receiving an RNA messaging vaccine or adenoviral vaccine is not associated with a decrease in life quality or worsening of symptoms.

Provided by Annals of Internal Medicine