Four years after the coronavirus pandemic first began, though numbers of new COVID-19 cases have dramatically dropped off, doctors are now grappling with the virus in two forms: acute COVID infections and cases of long COVID.
The COVID-19 virus has been widely studied for those four years, but much less is known about long COVID, in which symptoms of the virus stick around for months or even years for some patients. Until more is known—and until any treatments have been approved specifically for long COVID—according to a new campaign from Moderna, the best offense is a good defense, in the form of regular coronavirus vaccines.
The campaign launched March 15, which also marked the second annual Long COVID Awareness Day. It includes a blog post encouraging readers to stay up to date on their COVID shots, plus a Moderna-branded video in which a patient named Rachel shares her story of living with long COVID since 2021.
In the video, she describes her life as being split into two by the diagnosis: into a “before Rachel” and an “after Rachel,” the latter of which is unable to do many of the things that the pre-COVID Rachel could.
“Before long COVID, I was active,” she says, describing days spent at the beach swimming and playing with her kids. “I was optimistic, kind of like the cheerleader at work, and just always in a good mood.”
In the years since her long COVID diagnosis, however, Rachel says she’s been unable to work and often wakes up “dizzy, nauseous and in pain.” She has also experienced days-long panic attacks, sleeps “a lot” and sometimes has to be taken care of by her kids, rather than the other way around.
“It’s hard for me to be positive when I don’t know what’s next,” she says. “Long COVID is real, and for people like me, we’re still fighting.”
The video ends with information about long COVID, including that it’s associated with more than 200 symptoms, that the CDC estimates at least 20% of people will develop long COVID after an acute COVID infection and that “the only way to prevent long COVID is to not get COVID”—followed by a link to the national COVID vaccine-finder website.
The accompanying blog post includes more facts and figures about the illness, citing data suggesting that around 4 million Americans are currently unable to work due to long COVID and that cases of long COVID are most prevalent among the 35-49 age group and among those who have had three or more acute COVID infections.
According to Moderna, long COVID’s “biggest threats” come from its “ability to impact everyone, regardless of age or the severity of one’s original symptoms,” and the difficulty of diagnosing an illness that’s associated with hundreds of symptoms that present in countless combinations.
The post ends with the declaration that the best protection against long COVID is prevention, as “research suggests there is a strong association between receiving the COVID-19 primary vaccination series and a reduced risk of receiving a diagnosis of long COVID.” Both the video and post stop short of pushing Moderna’s own Spikevax vaccine, instead encouraging those eligible to simply “receive their updated COVID-19 vaccine” and to talk to their doctor about any questions or concerns.
The vax push comes in the wake of plummeting revenues from both Moderna and Pfizer’s COVID vaccines—which brought in $6.7 billion and $11.2 billion in total 2023 sales, respectively. Both companies are expecting to take in even less from their vaccines this year, though Moderna’s projected drop-off is much less steep: It’s expecting Spikevax to bring in at least $4 billion in 2024, compared to Pfizer’s $5 billion forecast for its Comirnaty shot.