Long COVID: sustained and multiplied disadvantage, 2022, de Leeuw et al

Policy and institutional preparedness for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic recovery is essential1 because the roots of the pandemic and its resolution are deeply systemic.2 The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects certain groups and populations. Generally, they are labelled as “vulnerable”, “marginalised” or “disadvantaged”, and these groups may be considered at risk from a medical perspective and/or from the perspective of their opportunities to function and participate in the community.3 But there is great and refined differentiation within these populations, whereby the varying waves have highlighted various inequitable and devastating effects. We followed recent guidance by Dahlgren and Whitehead4 for our understanding of differential effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and one of its expressions (“long COVID”) across Australian populations, and the long term impacts on health, wellbeing and economic resilience.

Open access, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.5694/mja2.51435