South Africa: Second Death From Rare Syndrome Linked to J&J COVID-19 Vaccine Confirmed

In August, a South African died from Guillain-Barre syndrome, which occurred after the person was inoculated with a vaccine against COVID-19 manufactured by American pharmaceutical and healthcare behemoth, Johnson & Johnson.

On Monday, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) said that a second fatal case of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), provoked by having been issued with a shot of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) vaccine against coronavirus, had been confirmed in South Africa, according to French news network, Africanews.

“The case was classified as a vaccine product-related event after investigations were conducted and a causality assessment. The events reported in the vaccine recipient were consistent with the case definition of Guillain-Barre syndrome and no other likely cause of the syndrome was identified at the time of illness,” SAHPRA explained.

"Very rare cases of the neurological disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, have been reported after vaccination with Janssen's COVID-19 vaccine, most occurring within the first 42 days after vaccination," J&J said in response, as quoted by Africanews.

The first confirmed case of death from Guillain-Barre syndrome as a result of J&J's vaccination against coronavirus was recorded in South Africa on 4 August 2022.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that is accompanied by damage to nerve cells. Symptoms of the disease are muscle weakness and tissue numbness. In severe forms of the disease, the patient becomes paralyzed.

The coronavirus pandemic was declared in South Africa in the spring of 2020, and its acute phase ended almost two years later. Mass vaccination against COVID-19 began in the country in February 2021 with the use of the J&J vaccine. To date, 60Mln doses of various coronavirus vaccines have been used in South Africa, 9.2Mln of whom received the J&J vaccine. A plant has been built in South Africa to produce the J&J vaccine.