A study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found vaccines were effective at preventing some of the most debilitating symptoms of long Covid, including lung and blood-clotting disorders.
One in five Covid-19 survivors may develop symptoms of long Covid, or long-term symptoms, according to a new
from the Centers for Disease Control, though vaccinations may cut the risk of symptoms by 15%, another study of more than 13 million veterans conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found.
The results suggest that vaccinations “remain critically important in the fight against COVID-19,” but seem to only offer “modest protection” against long Covid, Ziyad Al-Aly, an author of the study and clinical epidemiologist at the Washington University School of Medicine said in a statement. The Washington University study comes after the CDC on Tuesday published new research showing Covid survivors are two times more likely to develop respiratory issues or pulmonary embolism than those who haven’t had Covid.
The CDC study—which analyzed electronic health records of more than 60 million adults across the country during March 2020 to November 2021—found as many as one out of every four adults ages 65 years and older experienced long Covid symptoms, and were more at risk than those younger than 65 for developing kidney failure, neurological conditions and most mental health conditions.