Eric Topol

Beyond avoiding Covid infections altogether, the next best way to prevent Long Covid is through vaccinations, reduced ~70% by recent reports and a meta-analysis of 24 studies (Figure)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vaccination-dramatically-lowers-long-covid-risk/

Vaccination Dramatically Lowers Long COVID Risk

Several new studies reveal that getting multiple COVID vaccine doses provides strong protection against lingering symptoms

Scientific American
Jan 3, 2024 at 11:36pmWeb
Show threadRoy WigginsJan 4, 2024
@erictopol shame this is behind a paywall... I don't begrudge Scientific American usually, but when it's about vaccine effectiveness you might hope they'd make an exception...
Show threadMureniusJan 4, 2024
@erictopol I'd really love to know how this scales for additional shots, but I guess there's simply not enough data base. I've got 7 shots, once they started giving them to children, my little ones' pediatrician always offered to give me a shot as well since the vial was opened anyway. Guess it was a good idea to take it. 🙂
Show threadGraydonJan 4, 2024
@Murenius @erictopol It's not that it scales it's that the protective effectiveness wanes so you need (especially if you are older) to have been vaccinated in the last six months, tops, to get the protective effect.
Show threadMureniusJan 4, 2024
@graydon @erictopol Is there any solid evidence for this? (Referring to the six months and the not scaling part)
Show threadGraydonJan 4, 2024

@Murenius There is; it's been coming out as recent studies. Haven't got one to hand.

Creating long-term immunity to a coronavirus is not so much difficult as not demonstrated and it's not surprising that we're not seeing it now.

Show threadTracy ThomasJan 4, 2024
@erictopol I had 4 shots before my first Covid infection and got long Covid. I’ve now had 6 shots, and just got Covid again. Really hoping to avoid the long Covid symptoms won’t come back.
Show threadTracy ThomasJan 4, 2024
@erictopol I had 4 shots before my first Covid infection and got long Covid. I’ve now had 6 shots, and just got Covid again. Really hoping to avoid the long Covid symptoms won’t come back.
Show threadskryJan 4, 2024
@erictopol That’s great information. Thank you.
Show threadGreySkiesJan 4, 2024

@erictopol

Not to rain on anyone's parade but... given how it's extremely difficult to often even quantify and/or define what Long Covid even IS, and given the fact that even if you do not develop this particular set of long term symptoms after a Covid infection, you may still get underlying organ damage which is invisible/unnoticeable even without LC, i would tend to say the utmost caution towards infection is still in order. Also, a lot of people have underlying issues even *before* getting Covid, and the infection can and does often easily exacerbate these issues, even when you would not formally classify it as "Long Covid" afterwards.