Health issues caused by Omicron infection are less severe than other variants of Covid-19. But the unanswered question, whether infection with Omicron, including vaccinated people who were infected, can cause long Covid – physical, neurological, and cognitive symptoms that last for months.
Does Omicron Cause Long Covid And Can Vaccination Prevent It?
The first Omicron variant was identified in November, and its symptoms and longevity are yet to be identified. It is still unclear whether it causes symptoms similar to previous variants, like brain fog or fatigue after cure.
However, it was found that Omicron is initially less severe than other variants. Still, the symptoms of infection are similar to other variants, indicating long-term effects to be similar as well.
Doctors and health researchers warned that mild illness caused by Omicron might still lead to long covid. Reports from previous waves and pandemics show that people who initially showed mild symptoms of covid have developed long covid that went for months.
As vaccines themselves are not 100 percent effective against covid, it is still unsure how to prevent long Covid. Vaccines effectively prevent people from getting severely ill or dying from infection. Vaccines have been proven to reduce the chances of infection with previous variants, but it is ineffective against Omicron, and breakthrough infections are observed.
The collected studies were mainly on the previous variants of Covid, and the results are mixed. In a study conducted by The Lancet Diseases, people who received two doses and found to have breakthrough infections were half compared to people who did not take vaccination and reported to have symptoms for as long as 28 days.
In another study conducted by Arcadia, a healthcare data firm, and the Covid Patient Recovery Alliance, a collaboration of leaders with health expertise analyzed and produced similar results. Around 240,000 patients infected with coronavirus were studied.
It is found that people who have taken at least one dose of vaccine before infection were shown to report fewer chances of symptoms of long covid after 12 to 20 weeks.
Michael Simon, Arcadia’s director of data science, and Dr. Richard Parker, the firm’s chief medical officer, found that people who have taken at least one dose of vaccination are shown less likely to develop long Covid than unvaccinated people. The chances of long covid symptoms are reduced if they get vaccinated soon after their infection.
Another study conducted by researchers of the United Kingdom analyzed records of patients from the United States and found discouraging data about vaccination preventing long covid. Around 10,000 people who had been vaccinated were compared with a similar number of people who weren’t vaccinated against covid.
The study found that vaccination did not prevent most symptoms of long Covid. It showed that vaccinated people are less likely to be affected by long-term issues like abnormal breathing, cognitive symptoms, and fatigue.
Before the delta variant, when vaccines were given to patients with long Covid who showed symptoms like brain fog, irregular breath, and fatigue, they were found to get better. According to a study by the Office for National Statistics in the United Kingdom, for people aged 18 to 69 who showed symptoms, the first dose of vaccine lowered the chances of long covid by 13%.
A second dose further lowered it by 9%. Researches suggest that vaccines could help people with long covid to get better. Experts say that the reason behind long covid is still unclear, and the cause differs from patient to patient.
