ExerciseNZ urges seniors to get fitter before their COVID vaccinations

Supporting the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and the protection of people most vulnerable to the Coronavirus, Richard Beddie, Chief Executive of the Exercise Association of New Zealand (ExerciseNZ) has suggested that older people should also be more active in advance of their vaccinations.

Beddie was commenting on the very latest Trinity College Dublin research which found adults aged 60 and older should exercise, such as a brisk walk, at least two to three times per week before being vaccinated.

With exercise acknowledged as being highly effective in the preventing many health conditions, Beddie pointed to the latest research’s findings that exercise can benefit those who get COVID vaccinations.

Advising that medical experts, such as those in the Irish research report from Dublin, are supporting the message to increase cardiovascular activity prior to vaccination, Beddie noted “the good news in New Zealand is this can be done in many settings: outdoors, at home or at an exercise facility. Given our current zero community transmission situation, exercise has never been safer and more needed.

“While COVID does provide a unique reason to lift activity levels - and 50% of adult Kiwis don’t do enough - ideally this should be part of a plan to keep active.

“The early benefits of exercise include mental clarity, improved sleep and general positive state of mind. They will flow onto longer term health benefits such as cancer and cardiovascular disease reduction, through to significantly lower rates of degenerative diseases including dementia). Exercise really is the magic pill.”

Beddie’s comments are based on work undertaken by the Trinity COVID-19 Immunology Project which found regular aerobic or moderate exercise in weeks and months before the COVID vaccination can help improve antibody responses post vaccination in older people.

The report says it is critically important that lessons from previous vaccination programmes among older adults are used to inform current efforts, noting that vaccine efficacy in older adults can be a challenge due to ageing effects on the immune system. As people age, ability to produce robust antibody responses following vaccination declines, leading to their being less likely to generate long-term protection often required for full immunity to a virus.

Click here for more information on the Trinity COVID-19 Immunology Project.