Reply To: Covid 19 Vaccine

@ceekaydub Thanks for posting this. I was also diagnosed with GBS as a result of the flu vaccine (in 2019). I think this definitely bears watching. But by itself I don’t think it changes my own calculus about getting vaccinated. Several reasons come to mind. First, the article does not say much about whether they eliminated other possible causes, such as an infection. That leaves the causal relationship a bit tenuous (and it’s probably never 100% anyway), at least from where I sit. Second, even if the vaccine is a/the cause, it probably should not shock anyone. GBS is an autoimmune disease, and vaccines activate the immune system. One documented case is certainly evidence, but statistically it may not be significant. We already have reports (here) of GBS patients receiving the vaccine without incident. Third, there is still no evidence to indicate that the vaccine can cause a *relapse* of GBS.

So yes, it’s a roll of the dice, but I’m hoping the odds are on my side. I’m seeing my primary next week and will ask about this, but I expect that he will have no special information and will likely leave the decision up to me. Of course this could all change if we get more data pointing one way or the other, but we don’t have much yet. That’s my $.02.