The topic of long COVID is becoming mainstream news and will continue to be discussed for years. Therefore, women must have the information to make sound decisions about their health. Research about a disease is the first thing to consider when concerned about health issues. When reviewing research, think about the following.
- Was the research conducted ethically?
- Did ethical researchers write the research?
- Who paid for the research?
Let’s review, think about, and store away a few research projects.
Long COVID Research
The research is starting to stack up and be evaluated. Still, the disease and investigation outcome is not to be trusted fully because long COVID research will develop over the decade. There needs to be awareness and discussion of the research to ensure women’s health issues are appropriately handled and not ignored as heart disease is today. One of the biggest debates is if both vaccinated and unvaccinated women are affected by long COVID.
After Vaccination, Health of People with Long Covid More Likely to Improve or Worsen Compared to Controls: In a survey, 30% of people with long COVID said health improved after vaccination and 28% said health worsened, compared to 4% and 7%, respectively, reported by controls.
New Study Finds Vaccine Dose Timing Reduces Risk of Long COVID in Unvaccinated Patients: Arcadia, in collaboration with Leavitt Partners’ COVID-19 Patient Recovery Alliance, presents novel findings on patient susceptibility to long COVID symptoms.
The research indicates that vaccinated or unvaccinated women can develop long COVID. I’m convinced that long COVID does not discriminate between vaccinated and unvaccinated women.
The Unknowns
Long COVID Disability
Will the next global health crisis belong to long COVID?
On July 26, 2021, a statement from Biden-Harris marked the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which supports Americans with long COVID. Long COVID has been covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). However, as always, applying and getting approved under the ADA is no more accessible than it was in the past for any disability. Most claims for long COVID will need lawyers’ help because the government agency approving the claims is still a dysfunctional mess. The average cost for any ADA claim is thousands of dollars or a percentage of the amount awarded. Do not expect it to be easy.
Because this is still so new, there’s still so much to learn about this. The data that exists on other conditions—about what is an anticipated recovery timeline, what is an ideal treatment—that’s still very much under review and largely unknown.
—Kevin Dorse, Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association, June 2021
I’ll be writing a series of articles about long COVID, and resources will be available on my nonprofit website, EVOLVEzone, to ensure women and their families have unbiased information. If you have any questions about long COVID, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or question.
My final thought is that it is disturbing that no American politician, media outlet, or expert is looking for the root cause. Good luck!
