A third dose of COVID-19 vaccine offered essential workers some protection from developing long COVID during Omicron variant predominance, according to a new study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In the study, researchers found that essential workers who received a third COVID-19 monovalent mRNA vaccine dose had lower odds of long-COVID–related gastrointestinal, neurologic, and other symptoms than unvaccinated participants, by 63%, 44%, and 52%, respectively.
The study was based on outcomes seen among essential workers with COVID-19 infection between June 2021 and September 2022. The workers were from six US cities and worked in education, hospitality, and food service, among other jobs.
In the study, 936 participants had documented SARS-CoV-2 infection; of those, 23.6% (221) reported long-COVID symptoms, and 83.3% (779) were vaccinated.
Among those who had received three or more vaccine doses, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for developing long COVID–associated gastrointestinal symptoms was 0.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.16 to 0.85), while it was 0.56 (95% CI, 0.32 to 0.97) for neurologic symptoms, and 0.48 (95% CI, 0.25 to 0.91) for other symptoms.
This report demonstrates the effect of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing progression to PCC.
“This report demonstrates the effect of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing progression to PCC [post-COVID condition] during circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in the U.S. and highlights that COVID-19 vaccination can serve as an important additional tool to prevent PCC,” the authors concluded.
