Representation for COVID-19 vaccine administration | Credits: Getty Images
Representation for COVID-19 vaccine administration | Credits: Getty Images

US study uncovers powerful protection against long COVID in teenagers

United States: According to a recent new study, young people, particularly teenagers, are protected against Long COVID when vaccinated.

The findings of the study published in the journal Pediatrics on January 16 suggested that records of more than 1 million US kids showed that the COVID jab could effectively shield kids from long-term health problems related to the infection.

As per the electronic health data from 17 US health systems, researchers estimated that about 4.5 percent of kids ages 5 to 17 probably have had long COVID. However, only 0.7 percent of the kids actually received a proper long COVID diagnosis, according to a report by US News.

The lead researcher and director of analytics for the PEDSnet Data Coordinating Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Hanieh Razzaghi, said, “Using clinical data from across healthcare networks allowed us to have a large enough sample of patients to identify rare effects of the virus and its impact on children.”

Researchers said in background notes that initial COVID infections tend to strike adults harder than children, but it’s been tough to figure out how kids are affected by long COVID.

The researchers said symptoms of long COVID can vary widely, and it’s still not understood how the virus causes them.

Symptoms of Long COVID

Long COVID symptoms can include brain fog, shortness of breath, gastrointestinal issues, pain, fatigue, chronic inflammation, and heart problems.

List of symptoms of long COVID-19 | Credits: Google Images

More findings from the study

The overall vaccination rate among the children included in the study was 56 percent.

As per US News reports, researchers found 35 percent effective protection against probable long-term COVID and 42 percent protection against diagnosed long-term COVID within a year of receiving the vaccine as a child.

Protection was more robust for adolescents aged 12 to 17 (50 percent) than for children aged 5 to 11 (24 percent ).

Further, protection against long COVID was highest at six months after receiving the jab (61 percent) but waned to about 11 percent at 18 months post-vaccination.

Children who were vaccinated after recovering from a COVID-19 infection also appeared to benefit, with a vaccine effectiveness of 46 percent against probable long COVID.

Vaccine for COVID-19 | Credits: Shutterstock

Dr. Charles Bailey, senior researcher and an associate professor of pediatrics with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said, “This study provides us with important data showing the protective effects of the vaccine against long-haul COVID and suggests that this protection is mostly from preventing visible infections,” report by US News.

Bailey added further, “We hope this means that as vaccines are improved to be more effective against current strains of SARS-CoV-2, their protection against long COVID will get better, too.”