Can Covid-19 vaccines help ‘long-haulers’?

The director of the U.S. National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases said anywhere from 25 to 40 percent of people who test positive for Covid have symptoms for weeks or months.

>> I-Team: Doctor: Half of COVID-19 patients experiencing long-term symptoms

While Ohio expands its vaccine efforts, medical investigators are trying to figure out if the shots can help people recover.

About five months after mother of four and nurse practitioner Brittany Watson had Covid, she is still dealing with some lingering effects.

>> ‘Post-COVID syndrome’: Mayo Clinic expert says ‘long haulers’ may feel effects for more than 1 year

Dr. Roberto Colón, the Chief Medical Officer for Miami Valley Hospital said “post-acute sequelae of sars cov 2”

Is the technical term for people who are dealing with Covid symptoms around four weeks or more after they have recovered.

“It could be a lot of different things,” Dr. Colón said.

Though the definition is still evolving, Dr. Colón Said long Covid symptoms can include loss of taste, loss of smell, headache, muscle aches, brain fog, and fatigue.

“I have to prioritize because I’m not as efficient at multitasking as I was before,” Watson said.

She has her sense of smell back but her taste is still off. She is still tired and not as sharp as she was before she got sick.

“It’s just never feeling rested,” Watson said.

Now, medical investigators are trying to figure out if vaccines can help.

“What’s happening is we’re getting anecdotal reports of people who have had persistent symptoms for months beyond their Covid, they get the vaccine and symptoms go away and they feel better,” Dr. Colón said.

He explained, scientists are looking into a theory which says these people actually have a small amount of Covid in their bodies and getting the vaccine helps them boost their immunity to clear the virus.

“We have to be very, very careful about linking those two as causative and having an effect just yet, because it could be completely by coincidence that we’re going to get better and the vaccine just coincided with that time,” Dr. Colón said.

Watson got her shots in January and February. She said she is feeling better.

“Not really sure if mine was really related to the vaccine,” Watson said. “Or if it’s just time, just time that went by and I’m starting to feel more like myself.”

Dr. Colón added, while it is too early to say if getting vaccinated really will take away long Covid symptoms, it won’t make them worse. He is urging everyone in this situation to get vaccinated.

Cox Media Group