Long-COVID and vaccination in RECoVERED

After having a SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, a significant proportion of people continue to have symptoms, so-called 'long COVID'. The cause of these long-term symptoms is still unclear, but could be related to a disrupted immune system. This has led to the idea that vaccinating people with symptoms of long COVID could alleviate these symptoms by putting the disrupted immune system back on track. This project will investigate whether this is indeed the case. Objective To investigate whether 'long COVID' symptoms could be related to a disrupted immune system and the effect of vaccination on this. Background After having a SARS-CoV-2 virus infection, a significant proportion of people continue to have symptoms. This is called long COVID if the symptoms persist for more than 3 months. Long COVID places a significant burden on individual well-being and quality of life. It is also expected to have major economic consequences due to health-related costs and reduced work capacity. It is currently unclear what the cause of these long-term symptoms is. The symptoms may be the result of residual virus particles leading to a chronic inflammatory response, or of an abnormal immune response in which antibodies are produced that react to the body's own tissue. Vaccinating people with long-COVID could put the disrupted immune system back on track. It is therefore important to gain more insight into the development of long-COVID and the effect of vaccination on this. This is important for the vaccination policy, and perhaps also other interventions to prevent or treat long-COVID. Study design The study is being conducted in a large group of COVID-19 patients who have already been followed for a long time in an ongoing cohort study (RECoVERED). Of the study participants, 175 people were vaccinated, half of whom had long-COVID symptoms at the time of vaccination. In this group, the properties of the immune response are being examined in detail in relation to the nature and duration of long-COVID symptoms. It is also being investigated whether and what influence vaccination has on this. Executing parties Amsterdam UMC and GGD Amsterdam.