Here Are Two More ‘Side Effects’ of COVID-19 Vaccine That Are Actually More Dangerous with the Virus

Research continues to support the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and to disprove the perceived likelihood of many dangers associated with them. Most recently, a Research Letter published by JAMA Network takes aim at the misperception that pregnant women who receive a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine are at increased risk for spontaneous abortion. Looking at 105,446 unique pregnancies at eight U.S. health systems, the researchers found that “among women with spontaneous abortions, the odds of COVID-19 vaccine exposure were not increased in the prior 28 days compared with women with ongoing pregnancies.” Further, they noted that infection with COVID-19 has been found in other research to be associated with increased risk for maternal morbidity. They summed up by suggesting that these facts could be useful in counseling pregnant patients who are concerned about getting vaccinated against the virus. Meanwhile, a study published in Nature Medicine suggests that patients worried about neurological effects such as encephalitis, meningitis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome after getting a COVID-19 shot should be much more concerned with the virus itself, as those and four other rare disorders were found to occur more frequently in infected patients than in those who got the vaccine and who did not get sick.