A large, population-based study of over 30 million people in the UK examined rare adverse neurological events 28 days after vaccination with ChAdOx1nCoV-19, BNT162b2 or a positive test for SARS-CoV-2. Overall, the authors identified a small but increased risk of hospital admission for Guillain–Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy and myasthenic disorders after ChAdOx1nCoV-19 vaccination, and for haemorrhagic stroke after BNT162b2 vaccination. However, they found that infection carries a much greater risk of neurological complications. For example, the authors estimated 38 excess cases of Guillain–Barré syndrome per 10 million doses of ChAdOx1nCoV-19 and 145 excess cases per 10 million positive SARS-CoV-2 tests.
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Patone, M. et al. Neurological complications after first dose of COVID-19 vaccines and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat. Med. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01556-7 (2021)
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Flemming, A. Comparing neurological complications after COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nat Rev Immunol 21, 761 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-021-00655-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-021-00655-3