What matters most for a good life as you age? Depending on who you are, it could be time with family and friends, meaningful contributions to your community, travel or enjoying your interests. But among all answers there’s a common denominator: more good years.
When it comes to healthy aging, there’s always room for improvement. And while some health practices involve effort and will power, like changing your diet or a new exercise regime, other ways of protecting your health are as simple as they are impactful.
Like staying up to date with COVID-19 vaccines.
The public health crisis may seem long past, but COVID-19 is here to stay. The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) believes it’s time for older Canadians to see COVID-19 vaccines as simply part of your ongoing health routine. And with updated vaccines now available in some provinces for those who are high-risk (such as people over 65 years old), the time is right to reach out to your pharmacist or family doctor.
Here are five things you might not know about COVID-19 and vaccines.
1. COVID-19 Vaccines Matter: Your risk for severe impacts increases with age
Older adults are at greater risk for complications (or worse) from COVID-19 due to a variety of factors, including underlying health conditions and the body’s natural aging process. Here’s a closer look at why:
Comorbidities
As we age, we are more likely to develop chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lung disease) or conditions that weaken the immune system such as cancer. The presence of these “comorbidities” (which simply means having multiple health issues simultaneously), can amplify the virus’s impact, leading to more serious complications. As well, for some older adults, the body’s natural response to infection can result in a worsening of the already existing chronic conditions.
Immunosenescence
The immune system ages as we age. This is called, “immunosenescence,” which describes age-related changes in the immune system, such as decreased immune function, impaired ability to fight infection, and increased autoimmune risk.
The comorbidities that many older adults have, plus the phenomena of age-related waning of immunity leads to potentially more severe outcomes than a younger, healthier individual might experience. Statistically, more than 81% of COVID-19 deaths occur in people over age 65.
The most important thing to remember? You can take the simple and impactful step of protecting your health by keeping up with recommended vaccines.
2. COVID-19 vaccines matter: This is a virus that mutates.
COVID-19 is a virus that changes. Its genetic code is prone to changes called mutations that can alter its impact. If a virus changes enough, it could respond differently to treatments or become less recognizable to the antibodies your body has developed after natural infection or vaccination.
Researchers around the world study if the multiple COVID-19 variants that emerge impact the vaccine effectiveness and treatment options. The current COVID-19 vaccines have been created to accommodate many variations of mutation, so that updated vaccines keep up with the evolving virus strains.
Even though COVID-19 vaccines can be developed and updated quickly, vaccine safety is still a top priority in all phases of vaccine development, approval and post-approval monitoring. Despite the accelerated timeline for COVID-19 vaccine development and updates, safety remains the highest priority at every stage—development, approval, and post-approval monitoring. While certain steps in the process have been streamlined or overlapped to expedite progress, no steps have been skipped. Rigorous testing and evaluation continue to ensure the vaccines are both safe and effective..
There is extensive research and real-world data that has shown that receiving a series of updated COVID-19 vaccines over time is both safe and effective.
3. If you are vaccinated and still got COVID-19, it doesn’t mean the vaccine “didn’t work.”
COVID-19 vaccines have been shown to be very effective at preventing severe disease, including hospitalization and death due to COVID-19 and can decrease the risk of post-COVID-19 condition, also commonly known as long COVID.
For many, vaccination may mean you do not get COVID-19 when exposed. For others, while you may become infected with COVID-19, vaccination may help protect you from more severe impacts or post COVID condition). In other words, it doesn’t mean the vaccine you received “didn’t work” if you got COVID-19.
CARP knows that older adults value their best possible health. Getting very sick with an illness like COVID-19 can have a domino effect on your health by interrupting your activities of daily living and for some who are older, move you from deconditioning (which results in a decrease in muscle mass and the other changes related to bed rest) to functional decline, which involves a decline in your usual activities of daily living.
4. Post-COVID/Long COVID
Post-COVID, also called long COVID, is when symptoms of COVID-19 continue to be experienced for more than 12 weeks after the initial infection and can last for weeks, months or longer.
You can show symptoms of post COVID-19 condition even if you weren’t formally tested and diagnosed with COVID-19, or even if you only had mild COVID-19 symptoms.
Post COVID-19 condition is not COVID-19. Symptoms can persist for weeks or months from the initial COVID-19 infection, but you can also develop new ones.
While presentation can vary, some of the most common post COVID condition symptoms are fatigue, trouble sleeping, shortness of breath, general pain and discomfort, and brain fog.
While there isn’t a specific treatment for post-COVID condition, your health professional can help suggest approaches to address specific symptoms.
According to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization’s guidance on the use of COVID-19 vaccines during the fall of 2024, there appears to be a positive relationship between the number of doses received and the level of protection against post COVID condition. Another recent study shows that COVID-19 vaccines consistently help to prevent long COVID symptoms in adults.
5. It’s safe to take your COVID-19 vaccine and the flu vaccine at the same time.
Health Canada emphasizes the importance of getting both the updated flu and COVID-19 vaccines.
There’s no need to prioritize one vaccine over the other; both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines are effective and safe, and if it’s more convenient, you can receive both at the same time. Keep in mind that each has similar side effects and you may experience side effects from both.
