Herpes infection may be a side effect to COVID-19 vaccine, says expert

Experts have revealed that there may be a possibility of Herpes infection being a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Scientist in Israel has identified six cases in a new study of patients where a skin rash known as herpes zoster is developed after taking Pfizer vaccine, according to a study in the Rheumatology journal.

Herpes zoster starts off as a small, itchy skin rash, but if left untreated, it could cause nerve damage and pain, as reported by Jerusalem Post.

As per researchers, out of 491 patients, six patients developed the infection which is around 1.2%.

As per research, this infection is likely to be experienced by those with autoimmune rheumatic diseases and all six patients have mild cases of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. While this infection is common among old people aged 50 or above, these patients are all young.

Five of them developed the herpes infection after the first dose and the reaming one after the second dose.

It’s still unclear if vaccines have caused this infection.

Dr. Victoria Furer, the lead author, said, “We cannot say the vaccine is the cause at this point… we can say it might be a trigger in some patients.”

Furer further added that research is still going on and we suggest that people with the autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease get the herpes zoster first before getting the COVID-19 vaccine.