Correspondence on ‘Herpes Zoster and Simplex reactivation following COVID-19 vaccination’

KEYWORDS:

• covid
• vaccine
• adverse
• cutaneous
• zoster
• simple

To the Editor,

We would like to share ideas on the publication ‘Herpes Zoster and Simplex reactivation following COVID-19 vaccination: new insights from a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) database analysis’ [1]. Gringeri et al. concluded that ‘The paucity of cases (almost all of non-serious nature) makes the potential occurrence of this adverse effect negligible from … ., which remains strongly recommended’ [1]. We agree that COVID-19 vaccination might cause some clinical problems including herpes zoster and simple reactivation. In the present report, Gringeri et al. mentioned the incidence. The incidence might or might not be higher than local incidence in different settings. Also, the association is still a topic for further research. Since most reported cases lack data on vaccine recipient health/immunological status prior to vaccination, it is usually difficult to rule out the problem from background personal illness or coincidence of other medical problems [2]. If the pathophysiological process of post COVID-19 vaccination is due to alternative of immune system, the investigation on immunological profile of the cases should be conducted as a mean to confirm the final diagnosis. Based on this fact, the exact incidence of COVID-19 vaccine induced zoster, and simplex reactivation should be less than that reported in the current study. Hence, it can reconfirm the proposed statement by Gringeri et al. that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Funding

This paper was not funded.