Influenza vaccination may protect against the serious effects of Covid-19: Study

According to one study, an annual flu vaccine may reduce the risk of stroke, sepsis, blood clots, and several other serious effects in Covid-19 patients.

Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine also found that influenza-vaccinated Covid-19 patients were significantly less likely to visit the emergency department (ED) and be admitted to the intensive care unit. ..

“To date, only a small part of the world has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and with all the devastation caused by the pandemic, the global community remains a solution to reduce morbidity and mortality. We need to find a solution, “says senior research. Author Devinder Singh, professor at Mirror School.

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Influenza vaccine and reduced morbidity

“My team was able to observe an association between influenza vaccine and reduced prevalence in Covid-19 patients,” said Shin, who worked with lead authors Susan Tagiof and Benjamin Slavin. I did.

The study, published in the journal PLoS One on August 3, analyzed patient records from many countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Israel, and Singapore.

The researchers screened anonymized electronic health records of more than 70 million patients in the TriNetX research database and identified two groups of 37,377 patients.

Members of the first study group were vaccinated with the flu vaccine two weeks and six months before they were diagnosed with Covid-19.

The second group of people was also diagnosed with Covid-19 but had not been vaccinated against the flu.

Next, the incidence of 15 adverse outcomes, including sepsis, stroke, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), emergency department visits and death, within 30, 60, 90, and 120 days from a Covid-19-positive test. Compared between the two groups.

The analysis found that people who were not vaccinated against the flu were significantly more likely to be hospitalized in the ICU (up to 20 percent).

They also visited the emergency department (up to 58%), developed sepsis (up to 45%), and were significantly more likely to develop stroke (up to 58%) and DVT (up to 40%). ).

The researchers said they did not reduce the risk of death for patients immunized with the flu vaccine.

They were also able to calculate the number of Covid-19-positive patients who needed to be vaccinated against the flu to avoid one adverse consequence.

The team found that only 176 patients needed to be vaccinated against the flu to prevent one ED visit within 120 days of a Covid-19-positive test.

Also, only 286 patients needed to be vaccinated against the flu to prevent one case of sepsis.

For every 440 patients vaccinated against the flu, researchers were prevented from entering the ICU once.

It is not yet known exactly how the flu vaccine provides protection against Covid-19, but most theories speculate that flu vaccination may boost the innate immune system. -The general defenses we were born with do not protect against anyone specific illness.

The results strongly suggest that the flu vaccine may protect against some serious effects of Covid-19, they said.

However, researchers strongly recommend that people get the Covid-19 vaccine as well as the annual flu vaccine.

Researchers added that more research is needed in the form of randomized controlled trials to prove and better understand possible associations.

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Influenza vaccination for increased protection

However, they found that influenza vaccination could help strengthen protection in countries lacking the Covid-19 vaccine, or a breakthrough case for individuals who have already been vaccinated with Covid-19. He said it could be used to support an ongoing struggle against.

“Continuous promotion of the flu vaccine may also help people around the world avoid the possible’cold’that can be a co-occurrence of both the flu and the coronavirus,” Taghioff added.