Coronavirus experts are still unsure if vaccines will stop people being struck down by long Covid – but are increasingly hopeful that current sufferers will benefit from being jabbed.

There were fears that patients who contract the virus despite being vaccinated could also be hit by debilitating long-term symptoms, but new provisional data suggests jabs should reduce that risk.

Yet scientists want to see more information before concerns around further long Covid cases ease.

Dr David Strain, a British Medical Association Covid response group expert, told Metro.co.uk: ‘The only thing we can say for certain is if you don’t catch Covid you can’t develop long Covid.’

The new survey, published on Friday, found that long Covid sufferers’ symptoms improved by an average of between 23% and 31% compared with pre vaccination ‘scores’ of how they felt.

Clinical senior lecturer Dr Strain helped the Long Covid SOS group publish ‘the largest survey to date on the impact of vaccination for people with Long Covid’.

The research, which is yet to be peer reviewed, showed that 57% of people with long Covid saw an overall improvement in their symptoms, with 24% reporting no difference and 19% deteriorating.

900 respondents, matched by demographics to ONS research on long Covid sufferers, ranked Moderna as performing best at reducing symptoms, followed by Pfizer, just ahead of AstraZeneca.

Exeter University’s Dr Strain said the early data from the study was also ‘very suggestive’ that jabs reduce the risk of vaccinated people contracting long Covid if they caught the virus – but suggested more research was needed.

Dr Janet Scott, a clinical lecturer in infectious diseases, at the MRC-University of Glasgow Center for Virus Research, said she was yet to see any other studies systematically looking at the question.

More than a million people in the UK have reported suffering from long Covid (defined as having symptoms 12 weeks after being infected), with experts fearing it could cost the NHS some £10 billion a year.

Layla Moran, the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, told Metro.co.uk: ‘While there has been some progress in our understanding of long Covid, including more funding for research and the setting up of specialist clinics, there is a lot more work to do.

She said the effect vaccinations had on long Covid ‘still remains unclear’, before seeing the new research.

The Lib Dem MP also repeated her calls for more resources for long Covid clinics and research, suggesting that the condition will ‘remain as a lasting consequence of the pandemic for many years to come.’

Some sufferers initially have mild symptoms which worsen, and there have been numerous cases in children and previously fit and healthy young adults.

They have reported a range of debilitating symptoms, which have left some struggling to function in their daily lives and unable to work for well over 12 months – with many still not recovered. Some 376,000 people have reported symptoms stretching over a year.

But Dr Strain said that the survey ‘suggested that vaccination improves symptoms for the majority (of Long Covid sufferers).

‘Vaccination in this population is very important, as we do not know the impact of reinfection with a newer variant on their symptoms’, he explained.

‘Within the survey, there was a small proportion who reported worsening of side effects. Both the responders and those who deteriorated are of major interest, so that we can predict those who would benefit, and help address the deterioration of symptoms in the minority.’

Claire Hastie, who founded the 40,000-strong patient group Long Covid Support, said she has finally felt ‘much better’ in the last few weeks, but is not sure if that is down to a first vaccine dose or being put on new medication.

She told Metro.co.uk: ‘Although some people with long Covid find that some or all of their symptoms improve following the vaccine, what we don’t know is whether vaccines prevent people from developing long Covid in the first place, or reduce the severity or duration.’

Before the paper was published on Friday, Dr Amitava Banerjee, an Office for National Statistics expert looking at long Covid, said: ‘There are no trial data yet.

‘Patients, clinicians and researchers appear to be reporting in the direction of reduction of, or improvement in, long Covid symptom with vaccination. This suggests that there is an immune basis to the underlying mechanisms and the treatment of long Covid.

‘However properly conducted trials are needed to compare different vaccines with unvaccinated individuals across what appear to be different subtypes of long Covid.’

The UCL academic added: ‘At present the best way to avoid long Covid is to avoid getting infected.’

The World Health Organisation and UK Government Department of Health have been contacted for comment.

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