'We know that the vaccine induces a robust immune response to quickly clear the virus during breakthrough infections,' Iwasaki says. In others, it may be that their immune systems overreact to the virus - a so-called autoimmune response. Iwasaki says some people may experience long COVID because the virus is still hiding in the body.

Putrino is working with Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, to try to understand how breakthrough infections can lead to persistent symptoms. 'We need to behave as though there is the same chance as always of developing long COVID from a mild-to-asymptomatic infection because once you have it you can't unring that bell and you're looking at months to years of illness,' Putrino says. 'Categorically I can say that we have already been seeing a handful of cases of long COVID from breakthrough infection,' says David Putrino, who studies long COVID at Mount Sinai. Other researchers are convinced the problem is real. 'I think it is absolutely not impossible, but pathophysiologically it is less likely,' she says. That's because the immune response generated by the vaccine would prevent the virus from taking hold in the body or triggering a harmful overreaction by the immune system, Gandhi says. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. 'Pathophysiologically, it's quite unlikely to get long COVID from a breakthrough infection,' says Dr. Some infectious disease experts remain highly skeptical that long COVID from breakthrough infections is a big problem. Shots - Health News What The Latest Science Shows About Breakthrough Cases But the experts don't all agree So at the moment we don't have that answer,' Nath says, adding that if there is a risk, he suspects it's probably very low. It's quite recent that they've been recognized. I think we need to follow these patients. Out of about 1,500 vaccinated health care workers, 39 got infected, and seven reported symptoms that lasted more than six weeks.Īnd a large British study subsequently found about 5% of people who got infected - even though they were fully vaccinated - experienced persistent symptoms, although the study also found that the odds of having symptoms for 28 days or more were halved by having two vaccine doses.

Studies look for answers about long COVIDĪ small Israeli study recently provided the first evidence that breakthrough infections could lead to long COVID symptoms, although the numbers are small. 'I think that's a good question,' he says. So the concern is whether vaccinated people who get infected may be at risk for long COVID too, Nath says. Avindra Nath, who is studying long COVID at the National Institutes of Health. 'We've seen that with the infection itself in the unvaccinated individuals about 30% of those individuals continue to have these long-haul COVID symptoms,' says Dr.

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