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It sounds counterintuitive. Vaccinations against corona could in rare cases cause long covid, the serious and long-lasting complaints after a corona infection. Nothing has been proven yet, but a government that has successfully used vaccination as the main weapon against the corona pandemic should not ignore this.
Last week, the Lareb side effects center called for more research into long Covid as a side effect of the vaccination against corona. Until mid-August 2023, the center received more than 2,200 reports of complaints that lasted longer than six months and that arose within 28 days after vaccination. In 78 reports, the combination of complaints resembled long Covid.
It is special that Lareb draws attention to this so emphatically, but it is not very new. Internationally, the discussion about this has been going on for much longer – although nothing has become clear about vaccination as a cause. In the United States, doctors and scientists speak of ‘Long Vax’. The German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach already acknowledged in March 2023 that the reports about long covid after vaccination were real and deserved to be further investigated.
Minister Ernst Kuipers (D66, public health), who has now left his post, responded much slower. After much insistence from the House of Representatives, Kuipers first pledged 10 million euros on behalf of the outgoing cabinet and later another 32 million euros for research into long covid. But at the same time he did not want to make money available for the treatment of long Covid. Nor did he want to set up a national registry for this new patient group.
Lareb’s call can be seen as extra attention for an even more forgotten group, people who apparently have no prior corona infection, but who have long-term complaints after vaccination that are strongly reminiscent of long Covid.
The numbers are small, but the people involved are double victims. Firstly, of course, because they have become ill, sometimes so ill that they can no longer function normally. Secondly, because they fall through the cracks in the highly politicized climate surrounding corona and vaccination. Anti-vaxers will see this group as living proof that vaccination does more harm than good.
But the fact is that vaccination has protected many vulnerable people against serious illness and death from a corona infection. In addition, thorough scientific research has repeatedly shown that corona vaccination also protects against long Covid. Vaccinated people have a 30 to 50 percent lower risk of long-term symptoms of illness.
Other scientific research also shows that patients who have already suffered from long Covid can still improve if they are (re)vaccinated. The complaints improved for the majority, but there was also a small group whose complaints actually worsened. The influence of vaccination is complex and deserves to be further investigated.
If long covid actually turns out to be a side effect of corona vaccination, it is an extremely rare side effect that occurs in fewer than one in ten thousand vaccinated people. As long as the coronavirus is still around and can cause life-threatening infections in vulnerable groups, the very small risk of ‘long vax’ will not play a role in the decision whether or not to vaccinate.
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2024-01-30 00:00:00
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