Publication date: Jul 05, 2026
Abstract The association between COVID-19 vaccination and Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) has been previously investigated with inconsistent results, largely due to limited data and lack of concurrent controls. To address this problem, a large longitudinal cohort study was conducted using National COVID Cohort Collaborative (N3C) data. While COVID-19 infection was associated with increased GBS occurrence, COVID-19 vaccination was associated with significantly reduced GBS risk relative to unexposed (unvaccinated and uninfected) control, corresponding to a 61% lower 30-day risk (incidence risk ratio: IRR = 0.39, P 0.05). Prior COVID-19 vaccination also reduced infection-associated GBS risk. Additional factors associated with GBS risk included sex, vaccine dose, and pre-existing comorbidities such as stroke, neurological disorders, and autoimmune diseases. Overall, our N3C large-scale study provides evidence that COVID-19 mRNA vaccination reduces GBS risk, supporting the safety profile of mRNA vaccines and warranting further mechanistic investigation.
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Debilitating | Cohort |
| Michigan | Control |
| Professor | Covid |
| Vaccinated | Gbs |
| Incidence | |
| Infection | |
| Irr | |
| Large | |
| Medrxiv | |
| Mrna | |
| Preprint | |
| Risk | |
| Vaccination | |
| Vaccine | |
| Vaccines |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | Guillain-Barre Syndrome |
| disease | MESH | infection |
| disease | MESH | included |
| disease | MESH | stroke |
| disease | MESH | neurological disorders |
| disease | MESH | autoimmune diseases |
| disease | MESH | Syndrome |
| drug | DRUGBANK | Coenzyme M |
| disease | MESH | Emergency |
| disease | MESH | polyradiculoneuropathy |