Guillain-Barre Syndrome is a potentially life-threatening medical condition. Mayo Clinic describes how weakness and tingling begins in a patient’s hands, and feet as it attacks their nervous system. Those feelings can then spread quite rapidly if not treated to ease the process, and can eventually lead to complete paralysis. South Africa has just reported a rare case of fatal Guillain-Barre Syndrome after a Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccination.
U.S. Reports Cases of Fatal Guillain-Barre Syndrome Too.
The American Food and Drug Administration updated the syndrome on July 13, 2022. Its revised fact sheet (see link below) identifies an increased risk of it developing after a COVID-19 vaccination.
But their report only mentioned approximately 100 preliminary cases of Guillain-Barre Syndrome in United States, relating to 12.5 million doses of the Johnson vaccine. Of them, 95 were ‘serious cases’ requiring admission to hospital. But only one lead to a death.
South Africa reported a single death too, after a patient received their Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine. This was after ‘a prolonged hospital stay’. However, the details are thin in the interests of protecting patient confidentiality.
Prof. Hannelie Meyer from the National Immunization Safety Committee explained she was unable to reveal any information about patient demographic. So at this stage we don’t even know the town, let alone the province where the incident occurred.
More Information About the Vaccine Related Death
However, Prof Meyer did confirm a positive link between the vaccine and the death. “It is a very rare event,” she explained. “The person presented with the symptoms shortly after vaccination. And this led to prolonged hospitalization, mechanical ventilation and further infections.”
Prof. Marc Blokman is an international adviser to World Health Organization, but is attached to University of Cape Town. “We were aware certain medicines or vaccines could predispose patients to develop Guillain-Barre Syndrome,” he says. “However, we believe that the benefits of the vaccine still greatly outweigh adverse events.”
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