Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a rare autoimmune disorder in which a person’s nerves are damaged, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. Patients can sometimes develop GBS after having a recent respiratory illness or digestive tract infection, and in rare cases, after receiving certain vaccines.¹ Some evidence suggests that patients might have an increased risk of GBS after having COVID-19 or, very rarely, after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.2^,3

We investigated whether patients who have received a COVID-19 vaccine or who have had a COVID-19 infection have developed GBS at a higher rate compared to baseline rates in the general population. Our analysis shows that unvaccinated patients with a COVID-19 infection are nearly five times more likely to develop GBS than COVID-vaccinated patients, with a rate of 28 per million for COVID-vaccinated patients, and 130 per million for unvaccinated, COVID-positive patients.

Figure 1

Rates of Guillain-Barré Syndrome Among COVID-19-Vaccinated Patients, COVID-19-Positive Patients, and Control Groups

These data come from Cosmos, a HIPAA-defined Limited Data Set of more than 126 million patients from 156 Epic organizations including 889 hospitals and 19,420 clinics, serving patients in all 50 states. This study was completed by two teams, each composed of a clinician and research scientists who worked independently. The two teams came to similar conclusions.

References

1. Mayo Clinic. Guillain-Barre syndrome.
2. Caress, J.B., Casotoro, R.J., Simmons, Z., Scelsa, S.N., Lewis, R.A., Ahlawat, A., and Nrayanaswami, P. (2020). COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barre syndrome: The early pandemic experience. Muscle Nerve, 62(4), 485-491.
3. U.S. Food & Drug. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update: July 13, 2021.