According to a [new study] by the Washington University School of medicine in St. Louis and the St. Louis health care system of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01840-0 ) , even mildly breakthrough covid-19 infected people who have been vaccinated will develop persistent debilitating symptoms, affecting the heart, brain, lungs and other parts of the body**
An analysis of more than 13 million veterans also found that vaccination with the sars-cov-2 virus that causes covid-19 reduced the risk of death by 34% and the risk of long-term covid by 15% compared with unvaccinated covid infected people. However, the vaccine showed the most effective effect in preventing some of the most worrying manifestations of long-term covid - lung and coagulation disorders, down by about 49% and 56% respectively.
The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine on May 25, 2022.
First author Dr. ZIYAD al aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, said: "Vaccination remains crucial in the fight against covid-19. Vaccination can reduce the risk of hospitalization and death due to covid-19. However, the vaccine seems to provide only modest protection against long-term covid. People recovering from breakthrough covid-19 infection should continue to monitor their health and see a health care doctor if persistent symptoms make it difficult for them to carry out daily activities."
The researchers classified patients who had received two doses of Moderna or Pfizer biontech vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson / Janssen vaccine as fully vaccinated. At the time of the study, the database used in the study did not include information on whether patients received enhancers.
"Now that we understand that covid-19 can have lingering health consequences even among vaccinated people, we need to start developing mitigation strategies that can be implemented in the long term, because covid-19 doesn't seem to disappear soon," said Al aly, who is also the research and development director of VA St. Louis health care system. "We need to urgently develop and deploy additional layers of protection that can be implemented continuously to reduce the risk of long-term covid."
This protective layer may include nasal vaccines that are more convenient or powerful than current injections, or other types of vaccines or drugs designed to minimize the risk of long-term covid.
"Even among vaccinated people, covid-19 infection is almost inevitable," Al aly said, noting that 8% to 12% of vaccinators with breakthrough infections may develop long-term covid. "Our current approach is likely to cause a large number of people to suffer from chronic and potentially disabling diseases without any treatment. This will not only affect people's health, but also their ability to work, life expectancy, economic productivity and social welfare. We need a frank national dialogue on the consequences 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 have died - including more than 1 million in the United States alone.
"Suppose sars-cov-2 existed here for 10 years," Al aly continued. "People are tired of wearing masks and keeping social distance, and it is simply unsustainable to ask them to continue doing so. We need to think of more protective layers to allow us to return to normal life while coexisting with the virus. The current vaccine is only part of the solution."
For the study, the researchers analyzed the unidentified medical records of more than 13 million veterans. These records are in a database maintained by the Department of Veterans Affairs, the largest integrated medical service system in the United States. The researchers examined data from 113474 patients who were not vaccinated with covid-19 and 33940 vaccinated patients who experienced breakthrough covid-19 infection, all of which were obtained between January 1 and October 31, 2021.
Among them, covid-19 patients are mostly older white men; However, the researchers also analyzed data including more than 1.3 million women and adults of all ages and races.
The study did not include data on Omicron variants involving the virus, which began to spread rapidly at the end of 2021. However, previous studies have shown that the vaccine is effective for all current variants, Al aly said.
Among the other findings of the study:
In addition to complications involving the heart, brain and lungs, other symptoms associated with long-term covid include diseases involving the kidney, coagulation, mental health, metabolism, and gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal systems.
Vaccinated people with breakthrough infections had a 17% higher risk of long-term covid than previously healthy, vaccinated people.
An analysis of 3667 vaccinators hospitalized for breakthrough covid-19 infection showed that their risk of death was 2.5 times higher than those hospitalized for influenza. Compared with 14337 people hospitalized for seasonal influenza, they also had a 27% higher risk of developing long-term covid in the first 30 days after diagnosis.
These data sets also compared long-term health outcomes with a pre pandemic control group of 5.75 million people, meaning they had never had covid-19 because it did not yet exist. On the whole, people who break through covid-19 face a significantly higher risk of death and diseases, such as heart and lung diseases, nervous system diseases and renal failure.
"A series of findings suggest that the death and disease burden experienced by people with breakthrough covid-19 infection is not insignificant," Al aly said