EMA adds Guillain-Barré syndrome as side-effect of AstraZeneca vaccine

Europe’s medicines regulator has added a rare nerve-damaging disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, as a possible side-effect of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, regular safety updates from the watchdog showed on Wednesday.

The European Medicines Agency also tagged some other less severe side-effects to vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca’s shot.

ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, now known as AZD1222, was developed by Oxford University’s Jenner Institute, working with the Oxford Vaccine Group.

It uses a replication-deficient chimpanzee viral vector based on a weakened version of a common cold (adenovirus) virus that causes infections in chimpanzees and contains the genetic material of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

After vaccination, the surface spike protein is produced, priming the immune system to attack COVID-19 if it later infects the body.

The recombinant adenovirus vector (ChAdOx1) was chosen to generate a strong immune response from a single dose and it is not replicating, so cannot cause an ongoing infection in the vaccinated individual.

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EU lists rare nerve disorder as possible side-effect of AstraZeneca vaccine