NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The Yale School of Medicine is now conducting a study on those who have had long-term effects from COVID-19. If you have not yet received your vaccine, they welcome your participation in the study that aims to include hundreds.
"We are going to try to find out why long haulers are feeling better after vaccinations by studying their immune response before and after the vaccine," said Akiko Iwasaki, Ph.D., a professor of Immunology with Yale School of Medicine.
Dr. Iwasaki added"We are going to collect three different samples from people. So, blood and saliva sample before the vaccine, And six weeks and 12 weeks after the first shot."
She says it’s the only study of its kind and it’s happening in New Haven.
"There are two draw stations. One in the Smilow Cancer Center and the other one is North Haven," said Dr. Iwasaki.
There are over 100 different symptoms being reported by long-haul COVID sufferers.
"Many of them involve neuropsychiatric symptoms such as brain fog, inability to remember, depression as well as just you know inability to carry out the daily practices that they used to do before," Dr. Iwasaki said.
And for some of these individuals even taking a walk is a major hurdle. So why haven’t these folks taking the vaccine?
"Because they were already in so much pain and so you know having a vaccine might feel like they can’t handle that anymore above and beyond what they are already feeling," she said.
She says studies have shown vaccines are safe in those who’ve been experiencing long-term COVID-19 effects.
"Of course, they will go through the same kind of issues that many people have with the vaccines such as chills and potentially fever and fatigue and so on," said Dr. Iwasaki.
And in trying to persuade people to go the vaccine route she says they need to know that you will have long-term protection against COVID-19
"It’s possible that we may have to get a booster in the future," she said. "It’s likely not going to be in six months because the vaccine induces quite a long-term immunity. So, we may have to do it in a few years or so, but we don’t know."
She said Yale's goal is to have hundreds of people take part in this study, if possible, "because many people have already gotten the vaccine and we're hoping that those who haven’t gotten it but are planning to will enroll in this study."
To take part in the study, the first step to take is sending an email to CovidRecovery@yale.edu as long as you are age 18 or older.
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