When assessing breakthrough COVID-19 infections among fully vaccinated people, the data is clear: Few cases result in hospitalization or death. What's less understood is whether people with breakthrough cases can develop prolonged symptoms, or long COVID-19, The New York Times reported Aug. 16.
Research suggests 10 percent to 30 percent of people with COVID-19 experience long-term symptoms such as fatigue or brain fog. However, most research into long COVID-19 has focused on unvaccinated populations, so there are few insights into the prevalence or severity of prolonged symptoms in fully vaccinated people who contract the virus.
"I just don't think there is enough data," Zijian Chen, MD, medical director at the Center for Post-Covid Care at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, told the Times. "It's too early to tell. The population of people getting sick post-vaccination isn't that high right now, and there's no good tracking mechanism for these patients."
A small Israel-based study published July 28 in The New England Journal of Medicine offers the first piece of evidence from peer-reviewed research that long COVID-19 is rare, but possible in breakthrough cases, according to the Times. Researchers identified 39 breakthrough infections among 1,497 fully vaccinated healthcare workers before the delta variant became Israel's dominant strain. Most workers had mild or asymptomatic cases, though 19 percent reported symptoms that lasted at least six weeks.
The researchers warned against drawing major conclusions from the study, since it had a small sample size and was not designed to assess the risk of long COVID-19 after breakthrough infections.
To view the Times' full article, click here.