Physician-scientists from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine discovered that the flu vaccine could provide crucial protection against COVID-19 in a recently published study.The peer-reviewed journal PLoS One published the study entitled "Examining potential benefits of influenza vaccine against SARS–CoV-2: Retrospective cohort analysis of 74.754 patients." This was the largest ever study of its kind. It analyzed deidentified patient records from all over the globe and strongly suggested that annual flu shots reduce stroke, sepsis and DVT among patients with COVID-19. Patients with COVID-19 were significantly less likely than those who had not been vaccinated against flu to visit the emergency room or be admitted to the ICU.Devinder Singh M.D., senior study author and professor of clinical surgical at the Miller School, stated that only a fraction of the world's population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.Dr. Singh said that having access to real-time data from millions of patients was an incredibly powerful research tool. He conducted the study along with Susan Taghioff, a medical student, and Benjamin Slavin (plastic surgery resident), who were both lead authors. My team was able to see a link between flu vaccine and lower morbidity in COVID-19 patient.Share your findings with scientists and the general publicThese preliminary findings were presented by the researchers at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, which received international attention. The authors are thrilled to share their findings with the scientific community now that the entire study has been published.AdvertisementThe study used patient records from many countries including the U.S. and the U.K, Germany, Italy. Israel, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. To identify the 37,377 patients in each group, the team used electronic health records from TriNetX for more than 70,000,000 patients. These two patient groups were then matched based on factors that might influence their susceptibility to severe COVID-19.The flu vaccine was administered to the first group two weeks before they were diagnosed with COVID-19. The second group had a positive COVID-19 test but was not vaccinated. The incidence of 15 adverse outcomes, including strokes, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism, acute respiratory distress syndrome; arthralgia/joint pain; renal failure; anorexia and heart attack; pneumonia; hospital admissions; ICU admissions and death within the 30-60, 90 and 120-days of testing positive for COVID-19 was then compared between both groups.It was found that people who did not have the flu shot were 20% more likely to have been admitted into the ICU. They were also more likely to go to the emergency department (58% more likely), develop sepsis (45% more likely), have a stroke (upto 58% more probable) and to get a DVT (upto 40% more likely). The risk of dying was not decreased.Avoiding Adverse OutcomesInvestigators also calculated how many COVID-19-positive individuals would need to be vaccinated to prevent one adverse outcome. They found that only 176 patients had to have received a flu shot to prevent an emergency room visit within 120 days after being tested positive for COVID-19. To prevent sepsis, 286 patients were required to have had their flu shot. This is the most costly condition in American health care. One admission to the ICU was prevented for every 440 patients who had received their flu shots.It is not known how flu vaccine protects against COVID-19. However, many theories suggest that flu shots may increase the innate immune system. These are general defenses that we all have that don't protect us against specific illnesses.According to the study authors, these results strongly suggest that flu vaccines may be able to protect against severe side effects of COVID-19. They strongly recommend that all people get COVID-19 vaccinations in addition to their annual flu vaccine. The researchers state that further research is required to confirm and understand the link. However, they believe the flu shot could help to provide greater protection in countries where COVID-19 vaccines are scarce or aid in the ongoing fight against breakthrough cases among those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19.Taghioff stated that "continued promotion" of the influenza vaccine could help the world's population prevent a potential 'twindemic -- an outbreak of both coronavirus and influenza. "Regardless of how much protection the influenza vaccine provides against adverse outcomes related to COVID-19, just being able to preserve global health care resources and keep the number of influenza cases under check is enough reason to continue to support influenza vaccination worldwide."
