For a study, researchers sought to determine the incidence of neurological events in the United States following delivery of mRNA (Pfizer, Moderna) or adenovirus vector (Janssen) vaccinations. Investigators utilized the United States Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) data between January 1, 2021, and June 14, 2021, and made it available to the public. All symptoms reported in the free text within 42 days following vaccination administration were thoroughly examined and categorized into 36 distinct neurological diagnoses. Post-vaccination neurological event rates were compared between vaccine kinds, age-matched baseline incidence rates in the U.S., and COVID rates. About 314,610 (0.1%) of the 306,907,697 COVID vaccine doses delivered throughout the study period reported any adverse event, and 105,214 (0.03%) experienced neurological adverse effects a median of 1 day (IQR0-3) after vaccination. Instances of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) and cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) were less than 1 per 1,000,000 million doses. Statistically, significantly more neurological adverse events were documented after vaccination with Janssen (Ad26.COV2.S) than with Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) or Moderna (mRNA-1,273; 0.15% vs 0.03% vs 0.03% of doses, respectively, P<0.0001). Following immunization with Janssen, the observed-to-expected ratios for GBS, CVT, and seizure was more than or equal to 1.5 times greater than background rates. However, neurological events following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection were up to 617 times higher than following COVID vaccination. Rarely were significant neurological effects reported following COVID inoculation. GBS, CVT, and seizures might occur at rates above the background rate following vaccination with Janssen. Despite this, the incidence of neurological sequelae following acute SARS-CoV-2 infection was 617 times higher than after COVID vaccination.
SOURCE:onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ana.26339
