CDC recommends getting vaccinated to reduce risk of developing long Covid and severe illness from Covid-19
During Delta and Omicron waves, cases of long Covid fell almost twice as much for vaccinated individuals compared to unvaccinated
First study found 28% reduction in long Covid incidence among vaccinated due to changes in variants and improved medical care, 72% attributed to vaccines
New England Journal of Medicine publishes studies showing vaccines reduce risk of long Covid
Second study found lower rates of long Covid among vaccinated individuals during first two years of pandemic
According to recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine, vaccination significantly reduces the risk of developing long Covid. The studies found that during the Delta and Omicron waves of the pandemic, cases of long Covid fell among all participants but dropped almost twice as much for vaccinated individuals. However, there is still a residual risk of long Covid among vaccinated persons.
The first study analyzed health records from over 440,000 Veterans Affairs patients who were infected with Covid-19 and compared them to records of over 4 million uninfected people. The researchers found that the percentage of vaccinated people who developed long Covid was much lower than the percentage of unvaccinated individuals. The study concluded that 28% of the lower long Covid incidence in vaccinated people was due to changes in the variants and improved medical care, while 72% of the improvement was attributed to vaccines.
The second study also published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that during the first two years of the pandemic, rates of long Covid were much lower among vaccinated individuals. The researchers noted that this could be due to vaccines preventing severe illness and reducing the risk of developing long Covid or because people with milder infections are less likely to develop long-term symptoms.
Despite these findings, it's important to note that the risk of long Covid is still substantial, especially for those who are unvaccinated. Symptoms such as debilitating fatigue have been replaced by gastrointestinal, metabolic, and musculoskeletal problems among the unvaccinated. The studies also found that vaccines do not completely eliminate the risk of developing long Covid.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting vaccinated to reduce the risk of developing long Covid and severe illness from Covid-19. Vaccines are available from various sources, including Pfizer and Moderna.
A large new study provides evidence that vaccines reduce the risk of developing long Covid.
In the first two years of the pandemic, the percentage of vaccinated people who developed long Covid was much lower than the percentage of unvaccinated people who did.
A large new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that vaccination lowers the chance of developing long Covid.
Vaccines work in preventing the development of long Covid but do not completely eliminate the risk.
The study found that debilitating fatigue was once a hallmark of long Covid, but more recently gastrointestinal, metabolic, and musculoskeletal problems have overtaken fatigue among the unvaccinated.
A statistical method called decomposition analysis concluded that 28% of the lower long Covid incidence in vaccinated people was due to changes in the variants and improved medical care while 72% of the improvement was attributed to vaccines.
Despite progress in research and declines in long Covid cases, the risk is still substantial.
About 7% of American adults, roughly 18 million people, have ever had long Covid.
Vaccines cut the risk of long Covid by half during the Delta wave.
Long Covid symptoms may be due to active virus hiding out in the body even after initial infection.
Accuracy
]About 7% of American adults, roughly 18 million people, have ever had long Covid.[
The total cost of long Covid to the nation was estimated to be $3.7 trillion in 2022.
In the first year of the pandemic, when little immunity against the virus existed, 1 out of every 10 people who caught Covid went on to have symptoms consistent with long Covid.
During Omicron, 3.5% of vaccinated people and 7.7% of unvaccinated people went on to develop long Covid after infection.
Deception
(80%)
The article provides data from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that shows the risk of developing long Covid has dropped since the start of the pandemic but remains substantial, especially for unvaccinated individuals. The author does not make any editorializing or pontificating statements and does not use emotional manipulation or sensationalism. However, there are instances of selective reporting as the article only reports details that support the author's position about the importance of vaccination in reducing long Covid risk. The study's limitations are mentioned but not emphasized, and there is no mention of peer-reviewed studies to back up claims about long Covid symptoms or causes.
About 18 million people in the US have ever had long Covid, according to an analysis by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Experts who were not involved in the study agree that 3.5% means the risk of long Covid is still substantial and serious.
During Omicron, which started after Thanksgiving in 2021, 3.5% of people who were vaccinated went on to develop long Covid after the acute phase of infection.
Vaccines were a game-changer, cutting the risk of long Covid by half during the Delta wave.
Fallacies
(85%)
The article contains a few instances of inflammatory rhetoric and appeals to authority. It also presents dichotomous depictions of vaccinated vs unvaccinated individuals in terms of long Covid risk.
With a summer wave of Covid-19 infections sweeping the country, a timely new study has looked at the risk of getting long Covid and whether those odds have changed over time. It found that the likelihood of developing long Covid has dropped since the start of the pandemic but remains substantial...
The study includes more than 441,000 people who caught Covid-19 between March 2020 and the end of January 2022 and who lived at least 30 days after infection. Their records were compared with those of more than 4.7 million people who didn’t catch Covid but who were seen at the VA for other reasons over the same time period...
The importance of vaccination is a key takeaway from the study, said Dr. Hector Bonilla, who is co-director of Stanford’s Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome Clinic.
