A new preliminary study revealed that the influenza vaccine may reduce the risk of contracting the Coronavirus, and scientists have found that health care workers who received the influenza vaccine before the 2019-2020 season were 39% less likely to contract the Coronavirus by June 1, according to the site. American Insider.
The authors of the study, published by the American Scientific Journal, wrote: “Influenza vaccination may not only reduce influenza but also reduce the burden associated with COVID-19 On the health care system“.
The researchers examined the data of about 10600 employees at the University of Radboud Medical Center in the Netherlands, from among this group, they found that 184 health care workers had tested positive for the Coronavirus by June 1, so they looked at all the employees who had contracted the flu during the winter..
The study authors found that 2.23% of healthcare workers who did not get the influenza vaccine tested positive for: COVID-19 , While only 1.33% of vaccinated employees did.
Experts said that more evidence is needed to determine if there is indeed a link between the flu vaccine and a reduced risk of contracting the Coronavirus.
“This is an interesting study, but it does not provide conclusive evidence … there may be other reasons why health care workers who did not get the flu vaccine contracted at rates,” said Ellen Foxman, an immunobiologist at Yale University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study. Slightly higher than COVID-19.
Foxman said it was possible, for example, that people who had had the flu were simply more likely to take extra precautions during a pandemic.
The healthcare workers in the study also had varying levels of direct contact with hospital patients, which may affect the results and the researchers did not collect information on whether the workers had other health conditions that increased their risks, so that could be a factor as well.
Foxman said: “In terms of telling people you should get the flu shot because it can protect you from COVID … that is a bit extended at this stage. “
But she added that you should get the flu shot anyway, because, of course, it “will protect you from the flu.”
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