Reduced Incidence of Long-COVID Symptoms Related to Administration of COVID-19 Vaccines Both Before COVID-19 Diagnosis and Up to 12 Weeks After

Both clinical trials and studies leveraging real-world data have repeatedly confirmed the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration are safe and effective at preventing infection, hospitalization, and death due to COVID-19 and a recent observational study of self-reported symptoms provides support that vaccination may also reduce the probability of developing long-COVID. As part of a federated research study with the COVID-19 Patient Recovery Alliance, Arcadia.io performed a retrospective analysis of the medical history of 240,648 COVID-19-infected persons to identity factors influencing the development and progression of long-COVID. This analysis revealed that patients who received at least one dose of any of the three COVID vaccines prior to their diagnosis with COVID-19 were 7-10 times less likely to report two or more long-COVID symptoms compared to unvaccinated patients. Furthermore, unvaccinated patients who received their first COVID-19 vaccination within four weeks of SARS-CoV-2 infection were 4-6 times less likely to report multiple long-COVID symptoms, and those who received their first dose 4-8 weeks after diagnosis were 3 times less likely to report multiple long-COVID symptoms compared to those who remained unvaccinated. This relationship supports the hypothesis that COVID-19 vaccination is protective against long-COVID and that effect persists even if vaccination occurs up to 12 weeks after COVID-19 diagnosis. A critical objective of this study was hypothesis generation, and the authors intend to perform further studies to substantiate the findings and encourage other researchers to as well.