By Heather M. Butts
Lindsay McAlpine, MD, director of the Yale NeuroCOVID Clinic said in an interview with AmNews that “long COVID is not one thing. Everybody’s case of long COVID is slightly different, and so everybody’s treatment is going to be tailored to their symptoms and the organ system that is involved. So are they having GI symptoms, are they having palpitations, cardiac symptoms, breathing issues, lung symptoms, headaches, [or] neurologic symptoms. It’s really right now a tailored approach.”
The importance of continuing to be vigilant with respect to COVID remains clear. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, while a new COVID vaccine arrived this fall, it was accompanied by a great deal of vaccine fatigue on the part of the general population. However, according to the AAMC, that same population “remains vulnerable to new variants that are taking hold.” While the number of people dying from COVID who are unvaccinated is not as high as in 2021, increased protection from hospitalization and death after getting vaccinated and boosted remain.
Regarding the myth that those that get the COVID vaccine can never get long COVID, McAlpine said that “[we] have plenty of patients in our study who had three vaccines and they still developed long COVID. . . .Vaccination, it’s wonderful and it reduces your risk of being hospitalized with COVID, reduces your risk of long COVID, but it doesn’t prevent . . .[the] chance of Long COVID. So it’s a wonderful tool, and I think everybody should get vaccinated, but still [it] doesn’t guarantee no long COVID.”
Clinical trials to test effective treatments and interventions are a core component of the whole-of-government response to long COVID.
Admiral Rachel L. Levine, assistant secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services, in a National Institute of Health
The American Medical Association describes long COVID in the following way: “Most people recover from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, within a couple of weeks, but others may experience new or lingering symptoms, even after recuperating from COVID-19. Although there is no universal clinical case definition for these lingering symptoms, the CDC labels long COVID, also known as post-COVID conditions, as a wide range of new, returning or ongoing health problems people can experience four or more weeks after first being infected with SARS-CoV-2.”
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Dr. Lisa Sanders, medical director of Yale’s Long Covid Multidisciplinary Care Center, speaks about reducing the chances of long COVID. “You know there are two things that reduce your chance of getting long COVID and one is definitely getting vaccinated. It’s been shown in studies that it . . . reduces the likelihood that you will get long COVID. It’s not 100% effective. The other thing that’s been shown to be protective is taking Paxlovid when you have COVID and that reduces your chance of getting long COVID.” As Sanders told AmNews, while these interventions may reduce the chances of long COVID, they do not eliminate them.
Facing growing evidence of the perils of long COVID, on April 5, 2022, President Biden issued the Presidential Memorandum and Fact Sheet on long COVID and conditions that accompany long COVID. Out of this work, the Long COVID Coordination Council was launched, which put out The Services and Supports for longer-term Impacts of COVID-19 and The National Research Action Plan reports, and ultimately the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice. One of the important priorities of this office is to “disseminate up-to-date information about long COVID and associated conditions to educate the public.” Earlier this year, the federal government announced a group of long COVID trials to look at much of the long COVID work the AmNews has reported on previously and in this story.
“Clinical trials to test effective treatments and interventions are a core component of the whole-of-government response to long COVID,” said Admiral Rachel L. Levine, M.D., assistant secretary for Health, Department of Health and Human Services, in a National Institute of Health announcement around the long COVID clinical trials focus. “Coupled with adequate supports and services, access to clinical care and up-to-date information on what we know about long COVID, we can work toward relief for individuals and families impacted most.”
If you are recovering from #COVID19 or experiencing #longCOVID, you can call 212-COVID19 to receive specialty care, or visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/services/covid-19 to learn more about NYC’s COVID-19 Centers of Excellence. For additional resources about COVID-19, visit www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/index.page. COVID-19 testing, masks, and vaccination resources can also be accessed on the AmNews COVID-19 page: www.amsterdamnews.com/covid.
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