The potential neurological effect of the COVID‐19 vaccines: A review

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become a pandemic with people infected in almost all countries. The most efficient solution to end this pandemic is a safe and efficient vaccine. Classic platforms are used to develop vaccines including live-attenuated vaccine, inactivated vaccine, protein subunit vaccine, and viral vector. Nucleic acid vaccine uses next-generation platforms for their development. Vaccines are now rushing to the market. Eleven candidates are in advance development. These comprise inactivated vaccines, viral vector vaccine, nucleic acid vaccine, and the protein subunit vaccine platform, which are now quite advanced in trials in various geographic and ethnic populations. The reported severe adverse effects raised the worries about their safety. It becomes critical to know whether these vaccines will cause neurologic disorders like previously recognized vaccine-related demyelinating diseases, fever-induced seizure, and other possible deficits. We reviewed the most promising COVID-2 vaccines with a particular interest in mechanism(s) and adverse effect(s). We exemplify potential neurological problems these vaccines could cause by looking at previous studies. The current evidence indicated a minor risk of the acute neurological disorders after the application. The observation of the long-time effect is still needed.

Post-COVID-19 vaccine acute hyperactive encephalopathy with dramatic response to methylprednisolone: A case report

“…COVID -19 is a systemic disease condition that can lead to various systemic complications affecting almost any system in the body. Recently, different types of COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed worldwide; however, despite the updated studies on these vaccines and their safety, there are several registered complications that can be related to the vaccine [ 1 ]. Neurological complications, such as autoimmune encephalitis, demyelination diseases, Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS), seizures, and acute encephalopathy, have been reported in patients who received the COVID-19 vaccine.…”

New-onset refractory status epilepticus following the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine

“…The only speculated mechanism underlying the development of seizures after vaccinations in the literature was a vaccination-induced fever that acts as a seizure trigger. ( Lu et al, 2021 ) However, our patient was a healthy non-epileptic nurse who developed NORSE as a first presentation only ten days following the first vaccine dose. This makes the fever theory less likely and prompts the search for more integral mechanisms related to the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the pathogenesis of post-vaccination epilepsy.…”

Trigeminal and cervical radiculitis after tozinameran vaccination against COVID-19

“…11 While associations have been made about vaccinations and autoimmunity, the mechanisms behind these are yet to be clearly understood. 12 A recent review 13 of potential neurological effects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations summarised the current reported neurological adverse events in patients who have received the different types of vaccination and found that only one case of transverse myelitis was deemed to have been associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. In that particular case, the patient was injected with a non-replicating viral vector-based vaccine (ADZ1222).…”