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Glaucoma Cases Following SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination: A VAERS Database Analysis
Rohan Bir Singh1,2,3, Uday Pratap Singh Parmar4, Wonkyung Cho1
1Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
Vaccines
|October 27, 2022
Summary
Glaucoma after COVID-19 vaccination is very rare. Most cases occurred within a week of receiving the BNT162b2 vaccine, particularly in women and older adults.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Vaccinology
- Public Health
Background:
- Global vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 began in December 2020 to combat the pandemic.
- Assessing potential adverse events, such as glaucoma, following vaccination is crucial for public health.
- Understanding the temporal association between COVID-19 vaccines and glaucoma onset is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the risk of glaucoma following severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination.
- To analyze the onset interval and clinical characteristics of glaucoma cases post-vaccination.
- To identify potential risk factors associated with glaucoma development after COVID-19 vaccination.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of glaucoma cases reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database.
- Data collected from December 16, 2020, to April 30, 2022.
- Assessment of crude reporting rates, onset duration, clinical presentations, and risk factors.
Main Results:
- 161 glaucoma cases were reported during the study period.
- Crude reporting rates per million doses were 0.09 for BNT162b2, 0.06 for mRNA-1273, and 0.07 for Ad26.COV2.S.
- Over half of cases (56.6%) occurred within the first week post-vaccination, predominantly in women aged 50-70.
- BNT162b2 vaccine recipients showed a statistically higher risk of glaucoma compared to mRNA-1273 (p=0.05).
Conclusions:
- The incidence of glaucoma following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, Ad26.COV2.S) is extremely rare.
- Shorter onset intervals for glaucoma were observed with BNT162b2 and Ad26.COV2.S compared to mRNA-1273.
- Further research is needed to establish causality and understand pathological mechanisms linking vaccines and glaucoma.
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