R3 Seminar Recap: Vaccine response and time to recovery from COVID-19 in a multi-cohort collaborative
NIH studies that use a wealth of historical data shed light on how health and habits can impact a person’s risk of getting very sick or remaining sick because of COVID-19.
During the November 12th RECOVER Research Review (R3) Seminar, researchers described how they are studying people’s health and habits both before and during the pandemic to answer important questions about COVID-19 and its long-term effects. Specifically, two studies using data collected by the Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research (C4R) have identified several different factors that could impact the protective effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
Watch the R3 recording below or on YouTube.
Dr. Elizabeth Oelsner (Columbia University) provided an overview of the unique advantages C4R offers to researchers investigating Long COVID. Notably,
C4R includes 14 study groups called cohorts.
These cohorts include groups of people taking part in research on heart, lung, and mental health.
More than 51,000 people from different backgrounds and with different health histories take part in C4R research. Some of these people have been taking part in these studies since 1971. This long timespan allows researchers to gain a better understanding of how people’s overall health changed during the pandemic.
Dr. Oelsner next described how C4R collected health data using three surveys and two blood tests sent to study participants between 2020 and 2024. The surveys included questions about people’s health markers, habits, medical conditions, and other personal characteristics, such as their age, sex, race, ethnicity, and location (where they live). C4R worked with RECOVER to create the third survey. The projects will continue to collaborate on sharing data and study findings.
Dr. John Kim (University of Virginia) shared findings from a C4R study investigating how different people respond to COVID vaccines. Researchers measured the number of antibodies in people’s blood after they received two doses of a COVID vaccine. The presence of these antibodies shows that the body is ready to fight SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The researchers found that older people, women, people who smoke, and people with diabetes had lower antibody levels. Dr. Kim explained that these findings could be used to make COVID-19 vaccines more effective for everyone, but particularly for those people at greater risk for getting very sick from COVID.
Dr. Oelsner returned to present findings from a C4R and RECOVER study to understand the factors that influence how long it takes different people to stop feeling sick after having COVID. More than 1 in 5 people taking part in this study reported that they were still experiencing symptoms 3 months after having COVID. People who did not receive a COVID vaccine, people whose COVID was caused by pre-Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2, women, people who smoke, and people with heart disease were more likely to recover more slowly or not at all from COVID.
In the Q&A session led by Dr. Wendy Post (Johns Hopkins University), the speakers further explained how the C4R and RECOVER studies support and build on each other’s findings. They also encouraged researchers to use C4R’s large dataset for new studies to advance our understanding of the long-term effects of COVID-19.
To find recordings and transcripts of more R3 seminars, visit the RECOVER YouTube channel and the R3 webpage.