The flu vaccine can provide vital protection against COVID-19, concludes new research presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), which is taking place online this year.
An analysis of data from patients around the world suggests that the annual flu vaccine reduces the risk of stroke, sepsis and DVT in patients with COVID-19. COVID-19 patients who had been vaccinated against the flu were also less likely to visit the emergency department and be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Immunizing the world against COVID-19 is a daunting challenge and, although vaccine production and distribution increases daily, some countries are not expected to vaccinate large numbers of their populations until early 2023.
Recently, several modest-sized studies suggested that the flu vaccine may provide protection against COVID-19 , meaning it could be a valuable weapon in the fight to stop the pandemic.
Susan Taghioff, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of data on tens of thousands of patients around the world to learn more. .
In the largest study of its kind, the team examined de-identified electronic medical records held in TriNetX’s research database of more than 70 million patients to identify two groups of 37,377 patients.
The two groups were matched for factors that could affect their risk of severe COVID-19, including age, sex, ethnicity, smoking, and health problems such as diabetes, obesity, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Members of the first group had received the flu vaccine between two weeks and six months before being diagnosed with COVID-19. Those in the second group also had COVID-19 but were not vaccinated against the flu. The study was conducted on patients from countries such as the US, UK, Germany, Italy, Israel and Singapore.
The incidence of 15 adverse outcomes (sepsis; stroke; deep vein thrombosis or DVT; pulmonary embolism; acute respiratory failure; acute respiratory distress syndrome; arthralgia or joint pain; kidney failure; anorexia; heart attack; pneumonia; health department visits emergencies; hospital admission; ICU admission; and death) within 120 days of testing positive for COVID-19 were compared between the two groups.
The analysis revealed that those who had not received the flu vaccine were significantly more likely (up to 20% more) to have been admitted to the ICU.
They were also significantly more likely to visit the Emergency Department (up to 58% more likely), to develop sepsis (up to 45% more likely), to have a stroke (up to 58% more likely), and to have a DVT (up to 40% more likely). The risk of death was not reduced.
It’s not known exactly how the flu vaccine provides protection against COVID-19, but most theories center on it stimulating the innate immune system, the "general" defenses we are born with that are not tailored to any one. particular disease.
The study authors say their results strongly suggest that the flu vaccine protects against several severe effects of COVID-19. They add that more research is needed to test and better understand the possible link, but, in the future, the flu vaccine could be used to help provide greater protection in countries where the COVID-19 vaccine is in short supply.
Dr. Devinder Singh, lead author of the study and professor of plastic surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, says: "Only a small fraction of the world has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to date and, with All the devastation that has occurred due to the pandemic, the global community still needs to find solutions to reduce morbidity and mortality.
"Having access to real-time data from millions of patients is a powerful research tool. Along with asking important questions, it has allowed my team to observe an association between the flu vaccine and reduced morbidity in COVID-19 patients .
"This finding is particularly significant because the pandemic is straining resources in many parts of the world. Therefore, our research, if validated by prospective randomized clinical trials, has the potential to reduce the global burden of disease."
Ms. Taghioff adds, “Flu vaccination may even benefit people who are hesitant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to the newness of the technology.”
"Despite this, the flu vaccine is in no way a replacement for the COVID-19 vaccine and we advocate for everyone to receive their COVID-19 vaccine if they can.
"Continued promotion of the flu vaccine also has the potential to help the world’s population avoid a potential ’twindemic’ – a simultaneous outbreak of influenza and coronavirus.
"Regardless of the degree of protection that the influenza vaccine provides against adverse outcomes associated with COVID-19, simply being able to conserve global healthcare resources by keeping the number of influenza cases under control is reason enough to advocate for continued efforts to promote influenza vaccination."
