Retinal Vascular Events after mRNA and Adenoviral-Vectored COVID-19 Vaccines—A Case Series

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) 2021-11, Vol.9 (11), p.1349
• Main Authors: Girbardt, Christian, Busch, Catharina, Al-Sheikh, Mayss, Gunzinger, Jeanne Martine, Invernizzi, Alessandro, Xhepa, Alba, Unterlauft, Jan Darius, Rehak, Matus
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arthritis; Case Report; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccination; COVID-19 vaccines; Diabetes; Diabetic retinopathy; Edema; Emergency medical care; Eye; Immunization; Infarction; Ischemia; Males; Medical imaging; mRNA; mRNA vaccines; Occlusion; Optic neuropathy; Optics; post-vaccination; Retina; retinal vascular complication; Retinopathy; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Side effects; Thrombosis; Ultrasonic imaging; Vaccines; vascular complication; Veins & arteries
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9111349

Background: To describe cases of retinal vascular events shortly after administration of mRNA or adenoviral-vectored COVID-19 vaccines. Design: Retrospective, multicenter case series. Methods: Six cases of retinal vascular events shortly after receiving COVID-19 vaccines. Results: A 38-year-old, otherwise healthy male patient presented with branch retinal arterial occlusion four days after receiving his second dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with Comirnaty® (BioNTech®, Mainz, Germany; Pfizer®, New York City, NY, USA). An 81-year-old female patient developed visual symptoms twelve days after the second dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with Comirnaty® and was diagnosed with a combined arterial and venous occlusion in her right eye. A 40-year-old male patient noticed blurry vision five days after his first dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with Comirnaty® and was diagnosed with venous stasis retinopathy in his left eye. A 67-year-old male was diagnosed with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy in his right eye four days after receiving the first dose of Vaxzevria® (AstraZeneca®, Cambridge, UK). A 32-year-old man presented with a sudden onset of a scotoma two days after receiving the second dose of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with Spikevax® (Moderna, Cambridge, UK) and was diagnosed with a circumscribed nerve fiber infarction. A 21-year-old female patient developed an acute bilateral acute macular neuroretinopathy three days after receiving the first dose of SARS-CoV2-vaccine Vaxzevria® (AstraZeneca®, Cambridge, UK). Conclusion: This case series describes six cases of retinal vascular events shortly after receiving mRNA or adenoviral-vectored COVID-19 vaccines. The short time span between received vaccination and occurrence of the observed retinal vascular events raises the question of a direct correlation. Our case series adds to further reports of possible side effects with potential serious post-immunization complications of COVID-19 vaccinations.