According to a British study published in Lancet Infectious Diseases, those who have completed the vaccination course (with one of the three vaccines approved in the UK: Moderna, Pfizer or AstraZeneca) have much less chance of developing long covid: “The chances of having symptoms for 28 days or more for someone who contracts covid but is vaccinated are halved, ”say the researchers. A largely reduced risk, therefore, if we consider that contracting the infection is much less likely in vaccinated than in unvaccinated.
The study ran from December 2020 to July 2021, and was based on data entered by millions of adult UK citizens into the Covid Symptom Study monitoring app. Despite these reassuring results – one more reason to rush to get vaccinated, experts point out -, many questions still remain on the cases of long haulers (people who develop long covid) among the vaccinated: it is not yet clear whether for them the symptoms are milder, or if they resolve sooner than in those who are not vaccinated.
Symptoms for six weeks. According to a study conducted in July in Israel (before the Delta variant spread in the country), of 39 vaccinated healthcare workers who contracted the infection (out of 1,500 analyzed), 7 had symptoms for six weeks, including cough. tiredness, loss of smell and difficulty in breathing. However, it is important to underline that, if those 1,500 people had not been vaccinated, both the percentage of infected and that of long haulers.
The British research, according to the authors themselves, has some limitations: first of all, the data collected are based on statements given by the patients themselves, so they are not 100% reliable; furthermore, the data were not balanced by sex, race, ethnicity and social status, since many more women than men participated, and that people from the poorest areas of the country were almost absent.