Herpes zoster following vaccination with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 Coronavirus vaccine (recombinant)

Ever since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, science has unraveled much knowledge on SARS-CoV-2 which has led to extraordinary and unprecedented progress in developing COVID-19 vaccines. Several adverse cutaneous reactions, ranging from more common local injection site reaction, neutrophilic and pustular drug reactions to flare-up of preexisting dermatoses, have been reported with currently available vaccines. We report a case series of 7 patients who developed herpes zoster (HZ) following the first dose of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine (recombinant). HZ following vaccination is a rare entity. The occurrence of HZ in the patients presented in this series within the time window 1-21 days after vaccination defined for increased risk and postulated dysregulation of T-cell-mediated immunity, suggests that the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 coronavirus vaccine (recombinant) could probably be a trigger for reactivation of varicella zoster virus to cause HZ in them.