Europe’s medicines regulator has added a rare nerve-damaging disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, as a possible side-effect of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. This is what regular safety updates from the watchdog showed on Wednesday.
The European Medicines Agency said a causal relationship between GBS and the AstraZeneca shot, known as Vaxzevria, was an “at least a reasonable possibility” after 833 cases of GBS were reported out of 592 million doses of the vaccine given worldwide by July 31. The European watchdog further categorized the potential side effect as “very rare,” according to the wire service. The label represents the lowest-frequency category for the side effect.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare, auto-immune disorder in which the body attacks itself and damages its nerves. In March, the use of the company’s product was put on pause in several European countries after reports that the shot could be associated with rare blood clots in patients who received the jab. However, the use of the shot resumed in Europe the same month. The EMA also tagged some other less severe side-effects to vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca’s shot.