Covid-19: Nerve disorder listed as rare side effect of AstraZeneca vaccine shot

The European health regulatory body has listed GuillainBarre Syndrome GBS a neurological disorder as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine known as Covishield in IndiaGBS is a serious nerve inflammation which may cause temporary loss of feeling and movement paralysis and difficulty in breathingThe European Medicines Agency EMA in a new update on Wednesday shared that a causal relationship between AstraZeneca vaccine and GBS was considered at least a reasonable possibilityTherefore the condition should be added to the product information as a side effectThe frequency category allocated is very rare that is occurring in less than 1 in 10000 persons which is the category of the lowest frequency foreseen in EU product information the EMA said in the updateAlso Read Covid19 Antibodies drop 50 per cent in 3 months of Pfizer AstraZeneca jabs says studyThe incidence of the side effect remains extremely rare with only 833 cases reported worldwide from about 592 million administered doses of the adenovirusbased AstraZeneca vaccine as of July 25Reported cases concern suspected side effects ie medical events that have been observed after vaccination but which are not necessarily related to or caused by the vaccine the regulatory body saidThe EMA further recommended that patients must talk to their healthcare professionals before taking AstraZeneca vaccine if they previously had GBS after being given the vaccineIt added that people should seek immediate medical attention if they develop weakness and paralysis in the extremities that can progress to the chest and faceA study published in the peerreviewed medical journal Annals of Neurology in June described an unusual variant of GuillainBarre syndrome characterised by prominent facial weakness in seven cases from a regional medical center in Kerala India The cases occurred within two weeks of the first dose of vaccinationSix out of the seven patients progressed to areflexic quadriplegia and required mechanical ventilatory support said Boby Varkey Maramattom from the Department of Neurology Aster Medcity Kochi KeralaThe frequency of GBS was 14 to 10 fold higher than that expected in this period for a population of this magnitude In addition the frequency of bilateral facial weakness which typically occurs in less than 20 per cent of GBS cases suggests a pattern associated with the vaccination he addedWhile the benefits of vaccination substantially outweigh the risk of this relatively rare outcome the researchers stressed that clinicians should be alert to this possible adverse event and look for this rare neurological syndrome following administration of Covid19 vaccinesThe Johnson amp Johnson vaccine against Covid19 developed using the same technology as AstraZeneca was also listed for GBS recentlyThe EMA has also included pain in legs and arms or stomach and influenzalike symptoms in the product information as side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccineThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever