Cutaneous Reactions to COVID-19 Vaccines in a Monocentric Study: A Case Series

Abstract

After coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused a global pandemic, vaccines were rapidly developed to control the spread of the virus. Although they were effective in most of the cases at protecting people from becoming seriously ill and being hospitalized, they showed side effects, too. Among other adverse vaccine reactions, cutaneous eruptions following SARS-CoV-2 have been described in the literature, but they are not well-characterized yet. We described the morphology and timing of the spectrum of cutaneous reactions following most of the COVID-19 vaccines available in Italy, which were observed in outpatients referred to our non-invasive diagnostic clinic. Most of these reactions appeared after the second or third COVID-19 vaccine dose (most of them after mRNA COVID-19 vaccines). Our data support that cutaneous reactions to COVID-19 vaccination are generally self-limited; in addition, history of allergic reaction to a specific food, medicine or vaccine should not discourage vaccination in the general population, although patients with immune dysregulation should be accurately selected and monitored. Further research is necessary to better assess the true prevalence and preventive measures of skin reactions to COVID-19 vaccination.