COVID-Vaccinated Nearly 6 Times More Likely to Develop Herpes Than Unvaccinated: Journal 'Dermatology Research and Practice'

Herpes "developed in 23 (9.9%) and four (1.7%) patients after COVID-19 vaccination and infection, respectively."

A peer-reviewed study published last week in Dermatology Research and Practice found a higher likelihood of herpes zoster (HZ), also known as shingles, developing in COVID-19-vaccinated patients compared to unvaccinated patients.

The study involved 232 patients diagnosed with cutaneous HZ and was conducted from October 2021 to January 2023 at Siriraj Hospital Dermatology Clinic in Bangkok, Thailand.

Even though HZ has been observed to occur after both COVID infection and vaccination, the disease was 5.75 times more likely to develop among vaccinated patients than unvaccinated ones, according to the study.

“HZ developed in 23 (9.9%) and four (1.7%) patients after COVID-19 vaccination and infection, respectively,” the study authors confirm.

They also confirmed the onset of HZ occurred more quickly among the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated.

“The mean duration from vaccination and the median duration from infection to HZ onset were 5.7 and 8.5 days, respectively,” the study reads.

The authors had set out to compare the demographic data, clinical manifestations, treatments, and outcomes of patients with and without HZ within 14 days of COVID-19 infection or vaccination.

Out of the 23 patients with HZ who had recently received a vaccine, 12 (52.2%) had received mRNA vaccines (Pfizer’s BNT162b2 and Moderna’s mRNA-1273) and 11 (47.8%) had received the nonreplicating viral vector (AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) coronavirus vaccine as the second to fourth dose.

The study’s protocol was reviewed and approved by the Siriraj Institutional Review Board of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital at Mahidol University.