Vaccinations against COVID-19 increased the number of distressed people and intensified their distrust, particularly as the pandemic was still emerging and the populations were encouraged to be vaccinated under various slogans like “back to normal life” and “stop coronavirus”, goals which are still to be achieved. As fear of vaccination-related adverse events following immunization (AEFIs) is the main reason for vaccine hesitancy, the authors of this paper reviewed immune and autoimmune AEFIs in particular, as the most worrisome aspect of the vaccines, though very rare. Autoimmune AEFIs of the most commonly administered COVID-19 vaccines include neurological ones such as Guillain-Barre syndrome, transverse myelitis, and Bell’s palsy, as well as myocarditis. In addition, the newly introduced notion related to COVID-19 vaccines, “vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia/vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia” (VITT/VIPITT)”, is of importance as well. Overviewing recent medical literature while focusing on the major immune and autoimmune AEFIs, demonstrating their rate of occurrence, presenting the cases reported, and their link to the specific type of COVID-19 vaccines represented the main aim of this work. This narrative review illustrates the different vaccine types in current use, their associated immune and autoimmune AEFIs, with a focus on the three main COVID-19 vaccines (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, and ChAdOx1). While the rate of AEFIs is extremely low, the authors conclude that addressing the issue in this manner is the best strategy for coping with vaccine hesitancy.
Mahroum N, Lavine N, Ohayon A, Seida R, Alwani A, Alrais M, Zoubi M, Bragazzi NL. COVID-19 Vaccination and the Rate of Immune and Autoimmune Adverse Events Following Immunization: Insights From a Narrative Literature Review. Front Immunol. 2022 Jul 5;13:872683.
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Literature Review