A Systematic Review of the Impact of Vaccination on Long COVID

Author(s)

Thompson JY1, Nnate DA2, Mussad M3, Carroll S3, Buck P4, Strain WD5, Banerjee A6, Van de Velde N3
1University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 2Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust, Chester, UK, 3Moderna, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA, 4Moderna, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, USA, 5University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, 6University College London, London, UK

OBJECTIVES: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has multisystem effects, with a myriad of symptoms that may persist beyond four weeks (i.e., “long COVID”) but may be amenable to vaccination. This review systematically synthesised evidence to evaluate the health and economic burden of long COVID, specifically its relationship to vaccines.

METHODS: Relevant databases were searched for experimental randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-interventional studies. No language restrictions were applied. Estimates from 29 studies were narratively synthesised from Canada (2), United States (6), Australia (1), United Kingdom (9), France (2), India (2), Europe (1), Indonesia (1), Israel (1), Egypt (1), and international (3). Of the 29 studies identified, only 11 studies considered fully vaccinated vs partially vaccinated or unvaccinated groups before they were infected. Most studies were conducted among community-dwelling individuals (n=20), four among hospitalized patients, and five in either setting. Seven studies considered participants that were vaccinated post-infection. In comparison, eleven studies did not provide adequate information about vaccination status.

RESULTS: Of the 29 studies, 17 explored the relationship between vaccination and symptoms of long-COVID; 1 study reported worsening of symptoms, 11 studies reported improvement of symptoms, and 5 reported no difference in symptom profile following vaccination. Only two studies provided information on the economic benefit of vaccination strategies.

CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 and long COVID evidence base is evolving, and additional data may be presented at the conference. Data collected to date suggest that the prevalence of long COVID is a crude approximation, which underestimates the burden of the disease and the impact of vaccines and findings may also be limited by the reporting and quality of eligible studies. Furthermore, we would not be able to evaluate the impact of risk aversion via adherence to public health guidelines or non-pharmacological interventions due to measurement error, thereby increasing the possibility of bias.

Conference/Value in Health Info

2022-11, ISPOR Europe 2022, Vienna, Austria

Value in Health, Volume 25, Issue 12S (December 2022)

Code

EPH155

Topic

Epidemiology & Public Health

Topic Subcategory

Public Health

Disease

STA: Vaccines

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