Impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the risk of developing long-COVID and on existing long-COVID symptoms: A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background Although COVID-19 vaccination decreases the risk of severe illness, it is unclear whether vaccine administration may impact the prevalence of long-COVID. The aim of this systematic review is to investigate the association between COVID-19 vaccination and long-COVID symptomatology. Methods MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases, as well as medRxiv and bioRxiv preprint servers were searched up to June 20, 2022. Peer-reviewed studies or preprints monitoring multiple symptoms appearing after acute SARS-CoV-2 infection either before or after COVID-19 vaccination collected by personal, telephone or electronic interviews were included. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Findings From 2584 studies identified, 11 peer-reviewed studies and six preprints were included. The methodological quality of 82% ( n =14/17) studies was high. Six studies ( n =17,256,654 individuals) investigated the impact of vaccines before acute SARS-CoV-2 infection (vaccine-infection-long-COVID design). Overall, vaccination was associated with reduced risks or odds of long-COVID, with preliminary evidence suggesting that two doses are more effective than one dose. Eleven studies ( n =36,736 COVID-19 survivors) investigated changes in long-COVID symptoms after vaccination (infection-long-COVID-vaccine design). Seven articles showed an improvement in long-COVID symptoms at least one dose post-vaccination, while four studies reported no change or worsening in long-COVID symptoms after vaccination. Interpretation Low level of evidence (grade III, case-controls, cohort studies) suggests that vaccination before SARS-CoV-2 infection could reduce the risk of subsequent long-COVID. The impact of vaccination in people with existing long-COVID symptoms is still controversial, with some data showing changes in symptoms and others did not. These assumptions are limited to those vaccines used in the studies. Funding The LONG-COVID-EXP-CM study supported by a grant of Comunidad de Madrid.
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A previous systematic review did not conduct meta-analyses.
“Since a previous systematic review did not conduct meta -analyses [19]”
From Protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination against long COVID syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
A previous systematic review on vaccination and long COVID included non-peer-reviewed articles.
“However, their findings should be verified because non-peer-reviewed articles were included, and meta -analyses were not performed.”
From Protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination against long COVID syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
A previous systematic review on vaccination and long COVID did not perform meta-analyses.
“However, their findings should be verified because non-peer-reviewed articles were included, and meta -analyses were not performed.”
From Protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination against long COVID syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.
“The methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale [19].”
From Protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination against long COVID syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2023) · cites this paper as [19]
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- Authors
- Notarte, K. I., Catahay, J. A., Velasco, J. V., Pastrana, A., Ver, A. T., Pangilinan, F. C., Peligro, P. J., Casimiro, M., Guerrero, J. J., Gellaco, M. M. L., Lippi, G., Henry, B. M., & Fernández-de-las-Peñas, C.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Saint Peter's University Hospital (US)
- University of Santo Tomas (PH)
- University of the Philippines Manila (PH)
- University of Verona (IT)
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- eClinicalMedicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-11
- Volume
- 53
- Pages
- 101624
- ISSN
- 2589-5370 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9417563
- OpenAlex
- W4293455494
- Cited by
- 480
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 35 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 163 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 28
- FWCI
- 16.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
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- EClinicalMedicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
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- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Comunidad de Madrid Consejeria de Sanidad
- European Regional Development Fund
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Long-Term Effects of COVID-19
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › COVID-19 Clinical Research Studies
- Keywords
- COVID-19 vaccination, long COVID, SARS-CoV-2, vaccine effectiveness, vaccine dose number
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