COVID-19 Vaccination Induced Neurological Complications; A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: Vaccination against COVID-19 is proved successful in reducing the transmission of disease globally along with reducing the severity of disease but vaccine associated adverse effects (VAERS) questions the safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines especially the serious neurological adverse effects that are responsible for post-vaccination mortalities globally.

Aim: To review the neurological adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines and identify their possible pathophysiology

Method: The literature search was conducted by two researchers. The database of Google Scholar was used to search relevant literature. All the articles published between 1st Jan, 2018 to 1^st Jan 2022 were screened for inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: The search strategy resulted in 278 articles of which, 1duplicates were removed and 277 articles were screened according to inclusion exclusion criteria, 103 articles were excluded  and a total of 20 articles were included in review of which there were 17 case reports,1 observational studies, 1 case series and 1 case-control study.

Conclusion: The findings of review provide a deep insight of neurological complications that can occur in individuals after receiving COVID-19 vaccination and the clinicians should be conscious while dealing with a patient with new-onset neurological symptoms after vaccination against COVID-19 unless a causal association is developed between the vaccine and serious neurological adverse events by future researches.

Keywords: COVID-19, Post-vaccination, Neurological Complications, Vaccine Associated Adverse events, Acute Ischemic Stroke and GBS