However, this is also not justified with regard to a possible vaccine-associated herpes zoster disease (shingles), as a large evaluation of over 2 million vaccinated people showed.

The results make a clear statement that the COVID vaccination is not associated with an increased rate of herpes zoster. A supplementary cohort analysis also showed no increased risk of herpes zoster vaccination compared to the influenza vaccination from before the pandemic.

Shingles as a result of COVID-19 vaccinations?

There have been repeated reports in the literature about herpes zoster (shingles) as a result of COVID-19 vaccinations, so that a causal connection was discussed in professional circles and among laypeople. In principle, anyone who has had chickenpox before can get herpes zoster. The chickenpox virus (varicella-zoster virus/VZV) persists latently in the body for life and can be reactivated by various triggers, but this does not result in chickenpox again, but in shingles. VZV reactivation can e.g. B. arise in cases of (temporary) immune deficiency or in older people due to falling VZV antibody levels.

Initial analyzes of vaccination side effects showed an increase in reports of COVID-19 vaccination-associated herpes zoster infections; However, it was not clear whether these cases were due to increased reporting or a true increase in incidence. A large retrospective cohort study from the University of California, San Francisco , published on November 16th, specifically examined this question.

Health data from the US OLDW database (“Optum Labs Data Warehouse”) from 2,039,854 people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 (BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson-Johnson, in the period 12/2020 – 6/ 2021). The mean age of those vaccinated was 43.2 ± 16.3 years, 50.6% were female. Of the entire cohort, 1,451 people with a herpes zoster diagnosis were included in the primary STRI analysis (“self-controlled risk interval”), whereby the frequency of herpes zoster diagnoses in the “risk interval” (30 days after the first or second vaccination dose) and compared with later intervals (“control interval” 30-60 days after vaccination).

The results were also compared with the risk of herpes zoster after influenza vaccination from two historical cohorts before the pandemic (1/2018 - 12/2019) and in the early pandemic phase (3/2020 - 11/2020). The evaluation was adjusted for age, pre-existing immunological impairments and type of vaccine.

As a result, COVID vaccination was not associated with an increased risk of VZV reactivation (incidence rate ratio IRR 0.91; p=0.08). The incidence was also not higher than in the supplementary cohort analysis after influenza vaccination in the period before the pandemic (1st COVID vaccination HR 0.78; p<0.001; 2nd COVID vaccination HR 0.79; p<0.001) or in the early pandemic phase (1st COVID vaccination HR 0.89; p=0.05; 2nd COVID vaccination HR 0.91; p=0.09).

“Accordingly, shingles after a corona vaccination was nowhere near as common as it initially appeared in the reporting,” concludes Prof. Dr. Peter Berlit, Secretary General of the DGN.

Further supposed vaccination complications

Other supposed vaccination complications that have repeatedly been reported (e.g. myocarditis or Guillain-Barré syndrome) have now also been evaluated in large studies. analysis of over 5 million fully vaccinated people from Israel showed that 20 myocarditis occurred in 182,605 vaccinated adolescents, of which nine cases were classified as probable to definite according to CDC criteria (“Center for Disease Control”).

The incidence was therefore 4.8/100,000 vaccinated people; The course was mild, the median inpatient treatment lasted 2-4 days and the follow-up showed a good prognosis even after six months.

There is also an all-clear regarding Guillain-Barré syndrome: An epidemiological study from Mexico (12/2020 - 10/2021) showed a GBS incidence of 81,842,426 vaccination doses (with seven SARS-CoV-2 vaccines). 1.19/1,000,000. The GBS incidence was therefore lower than before the pandemic (2019) at 7.1/1,000,000 person-years.

“According to current studies, the vaccination can be classified as relatively safe; complications were very rare in systematic examinations or in long-term observation. People who are afraid of the COVID vaccination because of extremely rare possible side effects need to be aware that all of these complications are much more common with SARS-CoV-2 infections. This has now also been shown for many other potential side effects, including neurological ones.”

Prof. Dr. Peter Berlit, Secretary General of the DGN

The DGN therefore recommends accepting the vaccination offers in accordance with the recommendations of the Robert Koch Institute.

Source:

German health portal

Related: Shingles as a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccination?


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