The Real Risk of Major AEs After COVID-19 Vaccines

Less than 2% of patients with systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders faced the risk of major adverse events and hospitalizations after receiving the vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, according to the results of a COVAD study published in the Rheumatology.

“Vaccination against COVID-19 is safe in patients with systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders,” the researchers said. “These patients were at a higher risk of major adverse events than healthy controls, though absolute risk was small.”

For the study, the researchers collected patient details, COVID-19 vaccination details, and information of 7-day post-vaccine adverse events from patients from 94 countries. Out of the 10,900 respondents, more than half (54%) were patients with systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. The remaining patients were healthy controls. The median age was 42 years, majority (74%) of the patients were women and 45% of the respondents were Caucasians.

Patients with systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders were found to be more prone to side effects as compared to healthy controls. The side effects were headache (26% vs 24%), abdominal pain (2.6% vs 1.4%), and dizziness (6% vs 4%) The same was true for major adverse events (4% vs 2%), specifically throat closure (0.5% vs 0.3%)

However, the absolute risk of major adverse events and hospitalizations across vaccine types among patients with systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders across the board were minimal, being less than 2%, deeming vaccination against COVID-19 to be safe for the immunocompromised group of patients.

—Priyam Vora

Reference:
Sen P, Ravichandran N, Nune A et al. COVID-19 vaccination-related adverse events among autoimmune disease patients: results from the COVAD study. Rheumatology. 2023; 62(1): 65–76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/rheumatology/keac305