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Optic Neuritis After SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination
Asaf Shemer1, Assaf Greenbaum, Amit Toledano
1Department of Ophthalmology (AS, AG, AT, RB, BD-P, LO), Shamir Medical Center (formerly Assaf-Harofeh), Tzrifin, Israel; and Sackler Faculty of Medicine (AS, AG, AT, RB, BD-P, LO), Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Background:
To describe recent cases of optic neuritis in patients who received a vaccine for COVID-19.
Methods:
Retrospective case series of patients diagnosed with optic neuritis after a recent COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech), in one university-affiliated tertiary hospital, from January 2021 to June 2021. Data were obtained from medical charts.
Results:
We describe 7 patients who developed optic neuritis after immunization with the BNT162b2 vaccine.
Conclusions:
A causal relationship cannot be deduced, and the importance of COVID-19 vaccination is not challenged. However, the authors encourage a prospective monitoring and reporting system for all patients receiving COVID-19 vaccines, to further assess the spectrum of adverse events in large databases.
