Not yet. But when they come out with the aerosol version, Covid doesn’t stand a chance.
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A new study demonstrates that receiving at least two doses of Pfizer vaccinations significantly lowers the majority of the long-term symptoms people observed months after getting COVID-19.
In this study, people who received at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccination compared to those who received none experienced eight of the ten most frequently reported symptoms between 50 and 80 per cent less often.
Prof. Michael Edelstein of Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine directed the study, just published in the Nature journal npj Vaccines. He worked with the IT and infectious disease teams at three of the Faculty’s affiliated hospitals in northern Israel: Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Ziv Medical Center, and Galilee Medical Center. Most of the statistical analysis was done by Paul Otiku, a PhD candidate at the Azrieli Faculty of Bar-Ilan.
Between July and November 2021, almost 3,500 adults from all throughout Israel took part in the study. These people responded to a survey that asked them a number of questions concerning previous COVID-19 infections, vaccination status, and any symptoms they might have been feeling. The poll was offered in four widely spoken local languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, and English.
More than half of the participants (2,447) reported having never had SARS-CoV-2, whereas 951 had already contracted the virus. 637 (67%) of the affected individuals received two or more doses of the vaccination. 21 (0.9%) of the 2,447 people who stated they had no prior infections had received one dose, 1,195 (48.8%) had received two doses, 744 (30.4%) had received three doses, and the remaining 19.9% had not had any vaccinations.
The post-acute self-reported symptoms were compared between people who had received vaccinations and those who had not. When age and the amount of time between infection and survey participation were taken into account, they discovered that receiving two or more doses of the Pfizer vaccine was related to a lower probability of reporting the most prevalent post-COVID symptoms. The most frequently reported symptoms, including fatigue, headaches, limb weakness, and chronic muscular pain, decreased by 62%, 50%, 62%, and 66%, respectively, among participants in the current study. Persistent muscle soreness was reduced by 70% and shortness of breath by 80%.
The study adds to the limited knowledge currently available regarding the effect of vaccination on long-term COVID. The study’s principal investigator, Prof. Michael Edelstein of the Azrieli Faculty at Bar-Ilan University, adds that “we don’t fully understand what occurs in the months and years following COVID-19 in terms of physical and mental health and welfare.” “We felt it was vital to investigate whether vaccinations could help treat the symptoms of extended COVID because it seems to afflict so many people. It is becoming more and more obvious that vaccinations offer defence not merely against disease but also, as this study’s findings imply, against COVID-19’s long-term, occasionally life-altering consequences.”
Less is known about the level of protection against extended COVID provided by vaccinations. This study is the first of a series that Edelstein has started to follow a sizable cohort of people from all facets of Israel’s diverse population to see how the vaccines affect long-term quality of life, various COVID variations, and long-COVID symptoms.
tl;dr:
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text
COVID-19 vaccinations reduce risk of reinfection by 50 per cent
When compared to those who have not been vaccinated, those who have recovered from a coronavirus infection have a halved risk of becoming infected a second time or contracting COVID-19 again with severe symptoms.
These findings were revealed in an analysis published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, which is coordinated by Lamberto Manzoli, medical epidemiologist as well as Director of the School of Public Health and Hygiene of the University of Bologna.
“Our results confirm that, among the recovered, those who have received two or three doses of vaccine have a 50% to 60% lower risk of reinfection than those who are not vaccinated,” explains Professor Manzoli. “Considering that the number of people who recovered is now in the hundreds of millions worldwide, these results appear particularly encouraging and provide strategic information for future pandemic control policies.”
The study also involved scholars from the University of Ferrara and the Sapienza University of Rome and was carried out by collecting and analyzing data from 18 studies conducted in different parts of the world and including a sample of overall 18 million people. Scholars evaluated several aspects of COVID-19 reinfection through a series of analyses of the data collected. These included differences between people vaccinated with two and three doses, the persistence of protection 12 months after the last infection, and the severity and contagiousness of different variants.
Two main results emerged. One shows that vaccination halves the likelihood of COVID-19 reinfections compared to natural immunity alone obtained with a recover from the virus. Moreover, data show that even if a second infection occurs, the likelihood of developing severe symptoms is halved in vaccinated people. Similar levels of protection were observed in people vaccinated with only one dose, even for the Omicron variant and up to 12 months since the last infection.
“It is worth noting that vaccines have reduced a thankfully already low risk: in absolute terms, the number of reinfections may seem worrying, but cases of severe or fatal COVID-19 symptoms among people who have already recovered once are relatively infrequent: less than 1 in 1,000,” adds Manzoli. “These findings can thus be useful for planning specific immunization strategies for people who have already contracted the coronavirus.”
HT
Source: ANI
tl;dr:
“Our results confirm that, among the recovered, those who have received two or three doses of vaccine have a 50% to 60% lower risk of reinfection than those who are not vaccinated.” - Professor Manzoli, medical epidemiologist as well as Director of the School of Public Health and Hygiene of the University of Bologna.
People that did not get a COVID vaccination are much more likely to be involved in a traffic accident
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That’s a big enough risk differential that it could be a useful pricing/underwriting variable if permitted
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I skimmed the study. I did not see the study address the likelihood of those not vaccinated driving more miles than those who are vaccinated. The risky behavior is not necessarily poor driving, just more driving.
They did segregate urban vs rural homes, which presumably would pick up much of this effect.
They also comment directly on missing exposure data here:
" Another limitation of our study is the lack of direct data on driving exposure in different groups. A 100% increase in driving distance, however, is unlikely to explain the magnitude of traffic risks observed in this study.
A difference in driving distance would also not explain why the increased risks extended to pedestrians, why the increased risks were not lower in urban locations, and why the increased risks were not higher on weekends (when discretionary driving is common).
"
It does logically follow that there is some risky behavior associated with those who are unvaccinated. I still maintain that those who are unvaccinated are “out and about” at much higher rates than those that are vaccinated, and would therefore have much higher exposure to traffic crashes. There is a significant proportion of the vaccinated population that is not doing much of anything.
Urban/rural segregation should not have much bearing, as people in either setting may work fully remotely or drive to work, and both areas will have people who choose to go out (and gather) more than other people. In either setting, I would expect the unvaccinated to drive much more.
This study was performed in Ontario. I am not familiar with any lockdown measures in place at the time of the study. The % of vaccinated/unvaccinated is different than in many parts of the US.
If true, apparently not on the weekend which doesnt make much sense to me.
Conclusions
These data suggest that COVID vaccine hesitancy is associated with significant increased risks of a traffic crash. An awareness of these risks might help to encourage more COVID vaccination.
Lol
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Do they … actually think … there is a CAUSAL relationship?
Hoi.
I stopped reading at that point but almost certainly not.
But given where we are with covid and vaccines, i doubt it will be an effective message.
includes a quote from an actuary
952 people died from coronavirus and six from reactions to covid vaccine in Finland in 2021
Finland
20 December 2022
Man receiving his third BioNTech-Pfizer covid-19 booster jab at the vaccine center in a shopping mall in Espoo, Finland, on December 21, 2021. LEHTIKUVA
Statistic Finland’s mortality statistics report shows that a total of 952 people died from coronavirus disease in 2021. In 200 cases COVID-19 contributed to the death of a person in addition to an underlying disease.
“People with coronavirus disease as a contributing cause of death were often multi-morbid. Nearly 40% of them had cardiovascular disease as the underlying cause of death and around 45% had memory problems or cancer,” says Senior Specialist at Statistics Find Airi Pajunen.
Most deaths from coronavirus were among older people with the highest number of deaths in people between 85 to 89 years. Pajunen adds: “Although the majority of coronavirus deaths were among older people, those who died were younger than in the previous year.”
Statistic Finland’s report states that six people died from reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine, however, the manufacturer of these vaccinations is not mentioned. The youngest death was in the 20 to 24 age group and the oldest in the 90 to 94 age group.
Diseases of the cardiovascular system still leading cause of death
About 19.000 residents died from cardiovascular disease. These include heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among others. In 2021 more people died from such diseases in comparison to 2020 as these remained the leading cause of death for Finns.
However, the mortality rate decreased by 1%. “Over the past ten years, relative mortality from circulatory diseases has fallen by almost 30% for both men and women,” says actuary Kati Taskinen.
A quarter of deaths in 2021 were caused by tumours. Death due to tumour diseases in men were mainly caused by lung and prostate cancer and in women by lung and breast cancer.
The third most common cause of death was memory disorders. 11.500 Finns died of dementia (including Alzheimer’s disease) in 2021, which is almost 800 more than in the previous year. Mortality from dementia increased markedly, by up to 4%.
“Mortality from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has increased almost equally for men and women in previous years, but in 2021, age-standardised mortality from dementia increased significantly more for men than for women,” Taskinen says. However, most deaths from the disease were among women since there are far more women than men in older age groups.
Women’s accidental death rate increased
More Finns died from accidental death in 2021 compared to the previous year. The age-standardised accidental death rate increased by more than 3%, driven by a significant increase of 10% in the accidental death rate for women. For men, the accidental mortality rate remained almost at the same level as before.
The most common fatal accident was a fall or a fall from a height. 1.232 people died in these accidents, which is more than half of all accidental deaths. Two thirds of fatal falls occurred in people over 80 years of age.
Sirona Schönfeldt – Helsinki Times
Source: Statistics Finland
what's that smell?
Dec. 21, 2022 2:00 pm ET
The nose knows why some people still can’t smell long after recovering from Covid-19.
A haywire immune response in the olfactory system was found to explain why some people still can’t smell long after symptoms of the disease have abated, according to a small, peer-reviewed study published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine. In some cases, the immune or inflammatory response was detected in patients with smell loss up to 16 months after recovery from Covid-19.
Compared with people who can smell normally, patients with long-term smell loss had fewer olfactory sensory neurons, cells in the nose responsible for detecting smells and sending that information to the brain. Patients with lingering loss of smell had an average of 75% fewer of the neurons compared with healthy people, said Brad Goldstein, a study co-author and sinus surgeon at Duke University.
“We think the reduction of sensory neurons is almost definitely related to the inflammation,” Dr. Goldstein said.
Loss of smell is a common Covid-19 symptom, though its prevalence varies widely depending on factors including which variant caused the infection, head and neck specialists said.
Most Covid-19 patients who experience smell loss regain the sense within weeks of infection. But the symptom can stick around for a year or longer for up to 7% of patients, a February analysis said.
Dr. Goldstein said he and his colleagues sought to identify what was damaged or altered in people with long-term smell loss. “If we don’t know what’s broken, it’s hard to tell how to fix it,” he said.
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They took samples from the nose tissue of nine patients who couldn’t smell long after Covid-19 infections and compared them with cells from healthy people. Patients with persistent smell loss had more T-cells, a type of white blood cell that plays a critical part in immune response, in their noses, the study said. The T-cells were making interferon-gamma, a substance linked to inflammation, Dr. Goldstein said, and support cells appeared to be reacting to it.
The support cells protect and nourish olfactory sensory neurons. Without them, the olfactory sensory neurons can’t survive. Research has shown that the virus that causes Covid-19 doesn’t infect olfactory sensory neurons directly, but that it can attack such support cells.
Patients with smell loss also had fewer of a certain type of anti-inflammatory cell and more of a particular inflammatory cell than healthy people, said the study of 24 patients. The healthy group included two people who had recovered from Covid-19 but didn’t have long-term smell loss.
Covid-19 researchers said the study bolstered evidence that inflammation could be a culprit in long-Covid symptoms. An April study in the journal JAMA Neurology found inflammation among deceased Covid-19 patients in the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain responsible for receiving and processing information from olfactory sensory neurons in the nose.
Neuroinflammation could be a contributor to loss of smell and other neurological symptoms related to long-Covid such as brain fog, said Cheng-Ying Ho, a co-author of the April study and an associate professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Ho, who wasn’t involved in the new study, said inflammation that starts in the nasal cavity could extend to the brain. She said that the new study was compelling but that its small sample size necessitated further work in more patients. Because the vaccination status of participants wasn’t collected, she said it wasn’t clear whether getting the shots played a role in the olfactory system’s inflammatory response.
In a survey published last year of more than 400 patients with smell loss, more than 40% reported depressive symptoms and almost 90% reported enjoying food less.
“People might think smell loss is not really an important Covid symptom compared with severe symptoms such as pneumonia, but it can really bother some patients,” Dr. Ho said.
Researchers said regions of the brain linked to the sense of smell are closely associated with brain regions that control memory and emotion.
Sandeep Robert Datta, a co-author of the new study and a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, said he and others are conducting more research into the reasons for smell loss following Covid-19 infection smell loss. The research could lead to potential targets for treatment. There are no effective treatments for long-term smell loss, Dr. Datta said.
“Smell gives you a sense of place. It can be very disorienting without it,” Dr. Datta said.
Write to Dominique Mosbergen at dominique.mosbergen@wsj.com
Study reveals most long covid symptoms resolve within a year after mild infection
According to a comprehensive study published in The BMJ, most symptoms or diseases that occur after mild Covid-19 infection last for several months but recover to normal within a year.
In particular, vaccinated people were at lower risk of breathing difficulties - the most common effect to develop after mild infection - compared with unvaccinated people.
These findings suggest that, although the long covid phenomenon has been feared and discussed since the beginning of the pandemic, the vast majority of mild disease cases do not suffer serious or chronic long term illness, say the researchers.
Long covid is defined as symptoms persisting or new symptoms appearing more than four weeks after initial infection. In March 2022, an estimated 1.5 million people in the UK (2.4 pc of the population) reported long covid symptoms, mainly fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of smell, loss of taste, and difficulty concentrating.
But the clinical effects of long covid one year after mild infection and their association with age, sex, covid-19 variants, and vaccination status are still unclear.
To address this, researchers compared the health of uninfected individuals with those who had recovered from mild covid-19 for a year after infection.
They used electronic records of a large public healthcare organisation in Israel, in which almost 2 million members were tested for covid-19 between 1 March 2020 and 1 October 2021. Over 70 long covid conditions were analysed in a group of infected and matched uninfected members (average age 25 years; 51% female).
They compared conditions in unvaccinated people, with and without covid-19 infection, controlling for age, sex and covid-19 variants, during early (30-180 days) and late (180-360 days) time periods after infection. Conditions in vaccinated versus unvaccinated people with covid-19 were also compared over the same time periods.
To ensure only mild disease was assessed, they excluded patients admitted to hospital with more serious illness. Other potentially influential factors, such as alcohol intake, smoking status, socioeconomic level, and a range of pre-existing chronic conditions were also taken into account.
Covid-19 infection was significantly associated with increased risks of several conditions including loss of smell and taste, concentration and memory impairment, breathing difficulties, weakness, palpitations, streptococcal tonsillitis and dizziness in both early and late time periods, while hair loss, chest pain, cough, muscle aches and pains and respiratory disorders resolved in the late period.
For example, compared with non-infected people, mild covid-19 infection was associated with a 4.5-fold higher risk of smell and taste loss (an additional 20 people per 10,000) in the early period and an almost 3-fold higher risk (11 per 10,000 people) in the late period.
The overall burden of conditions after infection across the 12-month study period was highest for weakness (an additional 136 people per 10,000) and breathing difficulties (107 per 10,000).
When conditions were assessed by age, breathing difficulties were the most common, appearing in five of the six age groups but remaining persistent throughout the first year post-infection in the 19-40, 41-60, and over 60 years age groups.
Weakness appeared in four of the six age groups and remained persistent in the late phase only in the 19-40 and 41-60 age groups.
Male and female patients showed minor differences, and children had fewer outcomes than adults during the early phase of covid-19, which mostly resolved in the late period. Findings were similar across the wild-type, Alpha and Delta covid-19 variants.
Vaccinated people who became infected had a lower risk of breathing difficulties and similar risk for other conditions compared with unvaccinated infected patients.
The researchers point to some limitations, such as incomplete measurement within medical records, so data might not fully reflect diagnoses and outcomes reported. And they can’t rule out the possibility that covid-19 patients may use healthcare services more frequently, resulting in higher reporting and increased screening for potential covid-related outcomes in these patients.
Nevertheless, this was a large detailed analysis of health records across a diverse population, representing one of the longest follow-up studies in patients with mild covid-19 to date. And findings should apply to similar western populations worldwide.
“Our study suggests that mild covid-19 patients are at risk for a small number of health outcomes and most of them are resolved within a year from diagnosis,” say the researchers.
“Importantly, the risk for lingering dyspnoea was reduced in vaccinated patients with breakthrough infection compared with unvaccinated people, while risks of all other outcomes were comparable,” they add.
HT
Source: ANI
Vaccinated WFH laptop class might be driving less than unvaccinated service class who commute.
Or vaccinated people may just be more risk-averse in general, and do less likely to get into accidents.
Oh, never mind, i see that was covered.
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But it’s still a good point . :tup:
It’s difficult to believe the researchers were actually serious. IIRC the researchers didn’t adjust for miles traveled, but I might be wrong about that.
Very different from but reminds me of the Grievance Studies Affair from a few years back. “Let’s create a crazy study and see if we can get it through peer review, lulz.”
I wasn’t around here at the time, but the importance of RCT studies was emphasized at various times during the pandemic.
Is anyone here aware of any RCTs or other studies regarding effects of repeated doses of the Covid vaccine beyond the initial series? Or of mixing products from the different manufacturers?