A Case of Acute Viral Pericarditis Complicated With Pericardial Effusion Induced by Third Dose of COVID Vaccination

Abstract

COVID-19 vaccines were safe and efficacious in clinical trials. A two-dose regimen of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine confers no less than 95% protection against COVID-19 with an adequate safety profile. To date, no reports have been made in the literature regarding the onset of acute viral pericarditis after vaccination with the Pfizer BNT162b2 vaccine. But on the other hand, pericarditis is reported to occur in rare instances of COVID-19 infection, and this may be attributed to the pro-inflammatory effects of the spike protein. In this article, we describe the case of an elderly male patient with a known case of hypothyroidism who presented to our emergency department with fever, chills, and dry cough for ten days after the third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Although we cannot mention a direct effect, it is essential to note a potential adverse reaction to vaccine administration following the expression of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein-induced from the vaccine's mRNA.