Abstract Background COVID-19 has been linked to long-term respiratory and cardiovascular complications. The extent to which vaccination reduces these risks, particularly in individuals without pre-existing respiratory disease, remains unclear. Methods This retrospective cohort study used the TriNetX global health research network (105 healthcare organizations). Adults (≥18 years) with confirmed COVID-19 between January 1, 2020, and May 1, 2022, and no prior respiratory disease were included. Two cohorts were created: (1) vaccinated (≥1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine), and (2) unvaccinated. After 1:1 propensity score matching across 104 demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables, 75,048 patients remained in each group. Outcomes were evaluated over a 3-year follow-up, including hospitalization, pneumonia, respiratory failure, long COVID, interstitial lung disease (ILD), and cardiovascular events (stroke, pulmonary embolism, cardiac instability). Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. Results Vaccination significantly reduced the risk of: • Pneumonia (OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.28-0.31) • COVID-19 pneumonia (OR 0.07; 95% CI 0.06-0.09) • Acute respiratory distress syndrome (OR 0.25; 95% CI 0.20-0.31) • Respiratory failure (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.43-0.47) • ILD (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.51-0.64)Long COVID incidence was modestly reduced (OR 0.92; 95% CI 0.90-0.94). Cardiovascular complications were also less frequent among vaccinated individuals (all p .0001). Conclusion COVID-19 vaccination is associated with a sustained reduction in respiratory and cardiovascular complications over three years in individuals without baseline respiratory disease. These findings underscore the long-term protective benefits of vaccination and its critical role in mitigating post-COVID-19 morbidity. This abstract is funded by: None
Gonzalez et al. (Fri,) studied this question.