Morphea Triggered by COVID-19 Vaccination

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, various vaccines have been developed to control its spread. Initially, conventional inactivated virus vaccines, such as CoronaVac (Sinovac), were introduced, followed by more advanced mRNA-based vaccines, such as BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech). COVID-19 vaccines have been associated with several adverse effects, particularly dermatological manifestations. Morphea, also known as localized scleroderma, is an inflammatory and sclerosing skin disease that leads to sclerosis and loss of skin elasticity. Genetic and environmental factors, along with immune dysregulation, are thought to play a role in its pathogenesis. We report a case of morphea in a 72-year-old woman who developed localized skin lesions at the vaccination site following CoronaVac administration. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of morphea potentially triggered by CoronaVac.