“A new study from researchers at the Mayo Clinic suggests that being vaccinated against COVID-19 does little to prevent long COVID.

The findings contradict what has become conventional wisdom in the last 3 years—that vaccines offer a chance to significantly reduce the risk of long COVID, or new or persistent symptoms 3 months or more after infection, most likely by reducing the severity of infection.

Melanie Swift, MD, MPH, was the lead author of the study, which was published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. She said despite the current thinking that vaccines reduce the risk of developing long COVID, she wasn’t surprised she found no association.”

“Repeated studies show in the bluntest terms that the initial acute infection is only the tip of the iceberg. Even a mild bout of COVID can leave a legacy of blood clots, heart failure, diabetes, decreased brain function (see sidebar), long COVID (now affecting 400 million people worldwide) and immune damage that increasingly makes people more vulnerable to a plethora of infectious diseases and possibly cancers.

These problems can erupt three years after an infection”

Long COVID Clinical Evaluation, Research and Impact on Society: A Global Expert Consensus

Background: Long COVID is a complex, heterogeneous syndrome affecting at least one hundred million people globally.

“We have lived through a Covid summer – and there is new cause for concern

With lives being turned upside down by sudden illness and a steady mortality rate related to the disease, Covid and its after-effects are still looming menacingly over us. Zoë Beaty talks to experts and those suffering to find out more”

April 2024: 'Long-Term Effects of COVID-19: The Stories of 2 Physicians Who Became Patients'

'James Mwangi, MD; Jeffrey N. Siegelman, MD - Emory Univ. School of Medicine'

'Our intention in this article is to generate more awareness about long COVID...'

“Think you’ve grasped the full extent of COVID’s ongoing impact? Think again. As Americans shrug off vaccines and forget indoor air quality, the virus stealthily continues its destructive path. This was pretty much inevitable without new guidance urging a change in strategy and nobody telling us the full truth.

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from.”

Blood abnormalities found in people with Long Covid

Study implicates lack of key hormone, damage to immune cells, and reawakened viruses.

Clip from today's BBC Morning Live segment on #LongCovid

Dr @xandvt talks about a new study that found #LongCovid has a greater impact on quality of life than some Cancers.

1/🧵 Long COVID’s “Disability Roulette”

🔺No longer a mass Death event… 🔺COVID-19 is an ongoing mass #Disability event 🔺You & I might get #LongCOVID 🔺But society is yawning

This thread unpacks science, policy & hope.

1/11 SARS-CoV-2 & rapid loss of acquired immunity:

a 🧵 collecting various papers & results leading up to an idea:

rapid waning is

• actually chronic antigen exposure of a persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection
• leading to depletion/exhaustion of
• SC2 acquired immune memory

Truth is the ground beneath our feet.

Saying it’s OK to get COVID is quicksand.

Here’s solid ground: “post-acute sequelae of COVID-19…is a multisystemic condition comprising often severe symptoms…[with an] incidence of 10% of infected people.”

"Why long COVID could be a ticking time bomb for public health

Long COVID isn't novel: other viruses in history have had similar 'long' arcs — with devastating repercussions"