Since June, the number of individuals who experience long COVID-19 has dropped, the Kaiser Family Foundation wrote of its findings after examining CDC data on long COVID-19. On top of that, more than 50 percent of patients who once reported having long COVID-19 say they are no longer affected by it.
What exactly is driving the reduction remains unknown at this time, though research released Jan. 18 links vaccinations even after the onset of a COVID-19 infection to lower post-COVID-19 risk factors.
However, KFF points to other studies showing that "evidence is mixed as to whether vaccines reduce the likelihood of getting long COVID, or if they reduce the severity of long COVID among people who already have it."
Work to investigate the long-term effects of infection continues as part of a national effort launched in August 2022 by the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency released a National Research Action Plan on long COVID-19, which details that its plan "builds on ongoing research supported or conducted by the U.S. government and aims to accelerate and expand it, in addition to calling for enhanced action by the private sector," and "a comprehensive, multidisciplinary" approach.
Several other details have also emerged regarding the effects of long COVID-19 in just the first month of 2023.