As many as eleven people, in India and the United Kingdom, who were administered Covishield vaccine (known as AstraZeneca-Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in UK) have developed a rare neurological disorder.
According to reports, two separate studies conducted in India and UK, suggests that eleven people, in both the countries combined, have developed a rare neurological disorder called Guillain-Barre syndrome.
While seven cases have been reported from a medical centre in Kerala in India, four cases with the disorder have been reported from Nottingham in the UK.
In Kerala, about 12 lakh people were administered the Covishield vaccine. In Nottingham in UK, around 7 lakh people were administered with the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine (knoown as Covishield in India).
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All the eleven people administered with the Covishield/ AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine had reportedly received their jabs only 10 to 22 days earlier.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare neurological disorder in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks part of its peripheral nervous system—the network of nerves located outside of the brain and spinal cord.
“All seven patients developed severe GBS,” reports quoted researchers in India as saying.
The frequency of GBS from the areas where the cases were reported was estimated to be up to 10 times greater than expected, the authors of the two studies said.
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The two studies describe an unusual variant of GBR characterised by prominent facial weakness.
The frequency of facial weakness on both sides of the face, which typically occurs in less than 20 per cent of GBS cases, suggests a pattern associated with the vaccination, according to the research authors.