Search

Patients affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) present higher risk for infection and suboptimal response upon vaccination. The immunogenicity of SARS-CoV2 vaccination is still largely unknown in adolescents or young adults affected by IBD (pIBD). We investigated the safety and immunogenicity of the BNT162B2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine in 27 pIBD, as compared to 30 healthy controls (HC). Immunogenicity was measured by anti-SARS-CoV2 IgG (anti-S and anti-trim Ab) before vaccination, after 21 days (T21) and 7 days after the second dose (T28). The safety profile was investigated by close monitoring and self-reported adverse events. Vaccination was well tolerated, and short-term adverse events reported were only mild to moderate. Three out of twenty-seven patients showed IBD flare after vaccination, but no causal relationship could be established. Overall, pIBD showed a good humoral response upon vaccination compared to HC; however, pIBD on anti-TNFα treatment showed lower anti-S Ab titers compared to patients receiving other immune-suppressive regimens (p = 0.0413 at first dose and p = 0.0301 at second dose). These data show that pIBD present a good safety and immunogenicity profile following SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. Additional studies on the impact of specific immune-suppressive regimens, such as anti TNFα, on immunogenicity should be further investigated on larger cohorts.

The SARS-CoV-2 vaccine roll-out has been successful around the world. However, there are increasing concerns about adverse events. We report two pediatric cases of Multisystem-Inflammatory-Syndrome (MIS-C) with neurological involvement that occurred after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and unknown recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Brain magnetic resonance revealed mild-encephalopathy with reversible-splenial-lesion in both cases and complete resolution within 4 weeks. In conclusion, this report aims to describe rare emerging clinical entities that can help pediatricians to make an early diagnosis and to provide appropriate treatment. Multisystem-Inflammatory-Syndromes following COVID-19 vaccination remain rare events. When a history of a recent contact with SARS-CoV-2 is present, a careful evaluation by the clinicians in charge of immunization activities is suggested prior to proceeding with the vaccination.