COVID-19 vaccination poses no risk of herpes zoster infection

COVID-19 vaccines do not appear to carry any increased risk of developing herpes zoster infection among recipients, a study has reported.

The study used a self-controlled risk interval (SCRI) design to evaluate the risk of herpes zoster in a risk interval of 30 days after COVID-19 vaccination or up to the date of the second vaccine dose with a control interval remote from COVID-19 vaccination (60–90 days following the last recorded vaccination date for each individual, allowing for a 30-day washout period between control and risk intervals).

Researchers collected data from Optum Labs Data Warehouse, a US national deidentified claims-based database. They looked at a total of 2,039 854 individuals (mean age 43.2 years, 65.9 percent White) who received any dose of a COVID-19 vaccine with emergency use authorization (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, or Ad26.COV2.S) from 2020 through 2021.

A total of 1,451 patients (mean age 51.6 years, 58.2 percent female) who developed herpes zoster were included in the primary SCRI analysis. Results revealed no association between COVID-19 vaccination and an increased risk of herpes zoster (incidence rate ratio, 0.91, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.82–1.01; p=0.08).

Likewise, in the supplementary cohort analysis, COVID-19 vaccination did not confer any risk increase relative to influenza vaccination in the prepandemic period (first dose of COVID-19 vaccine: hazard ratio [HR], 0.78, 95 percent CI, 0.70–0.86; p<0.001; second dose of COVID-19 vaccine: HR, 0.79, 95 percent CI, 0.71–0.88; p<0.001) or the early pandemic period (first dose of COVID-19 vaccine: HR, 0.89, 95 percent CI, 0.80–1.00; p=0.05; second dose: HR, 0.91, 95 percent CI, 0.81–1.02; p=0.09).

The findings may aid in addressing concerns about the safety profile of the COVID-19 vaccines among patients and clinicians.