Influenza vaccine may provide additional protection from COVID-19
Influenza vaccination may reduce the risk for stroke, sepsis and deep vein thrombosis in patients with COVID-19, data presented at the ECCMID virtual meeting suggest.
Additionally, patients with COVID-19 who have received an influenza vaccine were less likely to go to the ED or be admitted to the ICU, Susan Taghioff, a research assistant at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and colleagues reported.
Taghioff and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of data from the TriNetX research database of more than 70 million patients and identified two groups of 37,377 people.
The groups were matched for factors affecting their risk for severe COVID-19, such as age, gender, ethnicity, smoking and health problems, such as in diabetes, obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Participants in one group had received an influenza vaccine between 2 weeks and 6 months before being diagnosed with COVID-19. In the second group, participants had not received an influenza vaccine before being diagnosed with COVID-19.
The researchers compared the incidence of 15 adverse outcomes occurring within 120 days after testing positive for COVID-19 among participants in both groups.
Participants who had not received an influenza shot were up to 20% more likely to have been admitted to the ICU, 58% more likely to go to the ED, 45% more likely to develop sepsis, 58% more likely to have a stroke and 40% more likely to have DVT. The risk for death was not reduced.
Taghioff and colleagues said their results suggest that vaccination against influenza protects against severe COVID-19 but that more research is needed to confirm that suggestion.
“Influenza vaccination may even benefit individuals hesitant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine due to the newness of the technology,” Taghioff said in a news release. “Despite this, the influenza vaccine is by no means a replacement for the COVID-19 vaccine, and we advocate for everyone to receive their COVID-19 vaccine if able to. Continued promotion of the influenza vaccine also has the potential help the global population avoid a possible 'twindemic' — a simultaneous outbreak of both influenza and coronavirus.”