More to be learnt about long COVID but vaccination helps

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Australia has passed the COVID-19 peak but we need to be prepared for future waves, say senior Health officials. 

Of particular concern were the impacts of “long COVID” – the name given to those with symptoms that last weeks or months. 

In the third and final Winter webinar series, the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Michael Kidd emphasised a lot was still being learned about long COVID, particularly its impacts on high-risk groups such as older people.

“There’s research happening all around the world, including in Australia, to try and get a better understanding of this condition,” the deputy chief medical officer said.

“But what we know is that some people who are infected with COVID-19 will have symptoms which can last for weeks and, in some cases, months after they’ve recovered from the initial viral infection.”

Hosted on Wednesday, the webinar took place as it was announced a change from daily to weekly reporting on COVID cases. From Friday, all states and territories switch to the new way of reporting, which the government said was supported by the chief health officers.

Long COVID symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, chest pain, shortness of breath, and muscle aches and pain.

An early positive sign is that COVID-19 vaccination may lessen the likelihood of long COVID. “If someone is vaccinated, it may cut their risk of long COVID by at least 50%,” Kidd said. 

“What we don’t know is the impact of the omicron variant and its sub-variants on long COVID. We seem to be seeing that it is producing less long COVID than the previous variants, the alpha and delta variants which we were dealing with in 2020 and 2021. 

“And that may be good news for Australia, where most of our population has been infected so far with the omicron variants.”

Kidd added the government was particularly concerned about long COVID going unnoticed in people in aged care.

“Be on the lookout for long COVID in your residence, and don’t just put new symptoms down as being part of being old and frail,” he said.