Herpes-Zoster Reactivation Following SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines

• Published in: Drug safety Vol. 45; no. 10; p. 1237
• Main Authors: Ferchichi, K, Aouinti, I, Charfi, O, Kaabi, W, Debbeche, S, Daghfous, R, Aidli, S E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Auckland Springer Nature B.V 01-10-2022
• Subjects: Case reports; Chicken pox; Commercialization; Coronaviruses; COVID-19 vaccines; Facial paralysis; Herpes zoster; Immunization; Immunosuppressive agents; mRNA; Paralysis; Patients; Pharmacovigilance; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sex ratio; Vaccines; Varicella
• ISSN: 0114-5916; 1179-1942

Introduction: Recently, due to the massive administration of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to a large population, a series of adverse events have been observed after its commercialization [1]. Post-marketing, sporadic case reports and series of Herpes Zoster reactivation were reported [2,3]. These cases constitute a potential signal. Objective: In this study, we aim to present a series of patients with Herpes-Zoster (HZ) reactivation following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Methods: This is a retrospective study of HZ cases, reported to the National Centre of pharmacovigilance (CNPV) following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination from March 2021 to May 2022. Results: We included 20 patients; 19 patients presented shingle and one patient had varicella. The sex ratio (M/F) was 0.8. The median age was 68.5 years. Nine patients were aged 70 years or older. The administered vaccine was an mRNA vaccine in 15/20 cases. The mean onset delay was 4.5 days. There was no concomitant use of immunosuppressants. All patients have recovered within a few days and no severe cases were reported. Two patients received the second dose, without recurrence of the symptomatology in one case. In the second case, there was an aggravation of the symptomatology and occurrence of facial paralysis; noting that the initial symptomatology was not entirely disappeared when the patient received the second dose. Conclusion: Our study does not establish causality but draws attention to a chronological association between the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and HZ reactivation, which have to be investigated.