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Case Series
Pulmonary embolism after COVID-19 vaccination
1 Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston Salem, NC, USA
2 Section on Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston Salem, NC, USA
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Kristin N Sheehan
1 Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC,
USA
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Article ID: 100064Z09KS2021
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Sheehan KN, Zhao D. Pulmonary embolism after COVID-19 vaccination. J Case Rep Images Med 2021;7:100064Z09KS2021.ABSTRACT
Introduction: On December 11, 2020 the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the release of the first coronavirus vaccine. The vaccine is an mRNA vaccine and was created by the companies Pfizer and BioNTech. Since its release, millions of Americans have received doses of the vaccine. Reported adverse effects of this new drug have ranged from mild redness to anaphylaxis.
Case Series: Here we present the cases of two patients who developed pulmonary embolisms shortly after receiving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The first occurred two weeks after vaccination and presented with exertional shortness of breath. The second case occurred one day after vaccination and presented with decreased responsiveness.
Conclusion: Both pulmonary embolisms occurred in patients otherwise not known to be at higher risk for clotting. These cases illustrate a rare but important potential complication of COVID-19 vaccination.
Keywords: Adverse effects, COVID-19, Pulmonary embolism, Vaccination
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Kristin N Sheehan - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
David Zhao - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis of data, Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guaranter of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was not obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2021 Kristin N Sheehan et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
