Early-onset Cervical Myelitis after COVID-19 Vaccination

Abstract

A 33-year-old woman developed paresthesia in her right thumb approximately 30 minutes after receiving the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine. The paresthesia gradually spread to her right-side limbs and trunk, and cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a localized lesion in the right dorsal column. After glucocorticoid therapy, her symptoms and MRI findings improved. Although disease developing less than 24 hours after vaccination is considered an unlikely cause of immuno-associated adverse events following vaccination, we discuss the possible mechanisms involved in early-onset central nervous system inflammation after vaccination in view of preexisting immunopathological susceptibility.