  Vaccines are among the most powerful tools used to combat the COVID-19
pandemic. They are highly effective against infection and substantially reduce
the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, ICU admission, and death. However,
their potential for attenuating long-term effects of a SARS-CoV-2 infection,
commonly denoted as Long COVID, remains elusive and is still subject of debate.
Such long-term effects can be effectively monitored at the individual level by
analyzing physiological data collected by consumer-grade wearable sensors.
Here, we investigate changes in resting heart rate, daily physical activity,
and sleep duration in response to a SARS-CoV-2 infection stratified by
vaccination status. Data was collected over a period of two years in the
context of the German Corona Data Donation Project with currently around
190,000 monthly active donors. Compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, we
find that vaccinated individuals on average experience smaller changes in their
vital data that also return to normal levels more quickly. Likewise, extreme
changes in vitals during the acute phase of the disease occur less frequently
in vaccinated individuals. Our results solidify evidence that vaccines can
mitigate long-term detrimental effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections both in terms
of duration and magnitude. Furthermore, they demonstrate the value of large
scale, high-resolution wearable sensor data in public health research.
