EU lists rare nerve disorder as possible side-effect of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

LONDON - Europe's medicines regulator has added an extremely rare nerve-damaging disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), as a possible side-effect of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine, regular safety updates from the watchdog showed on Wednesday (Sept 8).

The European Medicines Agency said a causal relationship between GBS and the AstraZeneca shot, known as Vaxzevria, was a "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 EMA categorised the side-effect as "very rare", the lowest frequency of side-effect category it has, and has emphasised that the benefits of the shot outweigh the risks.

The US Food and Drug Administration has added a warning over Guillain-Barre syndrome as a possible side-effect of Johnson & Johnson's shot.

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Both vaccines use viral vector technology, and have also been associated with rare blood clots.

The EMA also tagged some other less severe side-effects to vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, Moderna as well as AstraZeneca's shot.