Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 4;11(4):796.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040796.

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination on Short-Term Perceived Change in Physical Performance among Elite Athletes: An International Survey

Olivier Bruyère  1   2   3 , Géraldine Martens  3   4   5 , Céline Demonceau  1 , Axel Urhausen  4   6   7 , Romain Seil  4   6   7   8 , Suzanne Leclerc  4   5 , Sébastien Le Garrec  4   9 , Philippe Le Van  4   9 , Pascal Edouard  10   11 , Philippe M Tscholl  4   12 , François Delvaux  2   3   4 , Jean-François Toussaint  4   13 , Jean-François Kaux  2   3   4 ; Réseau Francophone Olympique de la Recherche en Médecine du Sport (ReFORM) Research Centre
Affiliations

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination on Short-Term Perceived Change in Physical Performance among Elite Athletes: An International Survey

Olivier Bruyère et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

COVID-19 vaccination raised concerns about its potential effects on physical performance. To assess the impact of COVID-19 vaccination on the perceived change in physical performance, we conducted an online survey among elite athletes from Belgium, Canada, France and Luxembourg, with questions about socio-demographics, COVID-19 vaccination, perceived impact on physical performance and perceived pressure to get vaccinated. Full vaccination was defined as two doses of mRNA or vector vaccine or a heterologous vaccine scheme. Among 1106 eligible athletes contacted, 306 athletes answered the survey and were included in this study. Of these, 72% perceived no change in their physical performance, 4% an improvement and 24% a negative impact following full COVID-19 vaccination. For 82% of the included athletes, the duration of the negative vaccine reactions was ≤3 days. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, practicing an individual sport, a duration of vaccine reactions longer than 3 days, a high level of vaccine reaction and the perceived pressure to get vaccinated were independently associated with a perceived negative impact on physical performance of more than 3 days after the vaccination. The perceived pressure to get vaccinated appears to be a parameter associated with the negative perceived change in the physical performance and deserves further consideration.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; athletes; athletic performance; elite; immunization; sports.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors do not have any potential conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flowchart.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Perceived global, social and professional pressure to get vaccinated on a 100-unit visual analog scale (VAS).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Martens G., Delvaux F., Forthomme B., Kaux J.F., Urhausen A., Bieuzen F., Leclerc S., Winkler L., Brocherie F., Nedelec M., et al. Exercise-Based Injury Prevention in High-Level and Professional Athletes: Narrative Review and Proposed Standard Operating Procedure for Future Lockdown-Like Contexts after COVID-19. Front. Sport Act. Living. 2021;3:745765. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.745765. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burki T.K. Vaccination in the World’s Top Athletes. Lancet Respir. Med. 2022;10:e33. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00022-4. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hull J.H., Schwellnus M.P., Pyne D.B., Shah A. COVID-19 Vaccination in Athletes: Ready, Set, Go…. Lancet Respir. Med. 2021;9:455–456. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00082-5. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dighriri I.M., Alhusayni K.M., Mobarki A.Y., Aljerary I.S., Alqurashi K.A., Aljuaid F.A., Alamri K.A., Mutwalli A.A., Maashi N.A., Aljohani A.M., et al. Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (BNT162b2) Side Effects: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2022;14:e23526. doi: 10.7759/cureus.23526. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meyer T., Wolfarth B., Gärtner B. Recommendations for Athletes to Vaccinate against SARS-CoV-2. Dtsch. Z. Sportmed./Ger. J. Sport Med. 2021;72:E1–E4. doi: 10.5960/dzsm.2021.486. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources