NASEM releases evidence review on COVID-19 vaccine safety

The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis, but do not appear to cause infertility, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or heart attack, according to a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report examining whether COVID-19 vaccines can cause certain harms. The Janssen COVID-19 vaccine may cause TTS and Guillain-Barré syndrome, the study committee found, although there are a limited number of published studies on this vaccine, reflecting its limited use in the U.S. According to the report, administering any vaccine, including COVID-19 vaccines, also may cause certain shoulder injuries: acute subacromial/subdeltoid bursitis, acute rotator cuff tendinopathy, bone injury, and axial or radial nerve injury.

“Despite a large body of evidence from extraordinary efforts by investigators around the world, our committee found that in many cases, if not most, evidence was insufficient to accept or reject causality for a particular potential harm from a specific COVID-19 vaccine,” said Anne Bass, vice chair of the study committee and a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and rheumatologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery and New York Presbyterian Hospital. “In other cases, we did find sufficient evidence to favor rejection, favor acceptance, or establish causality. It is important to note, however, that identifying a harm does not mean that it occurs frequently. Harms associated with vaccines are rare.”