First cases of penetrating corneal transplant rejection after COVID-19 vaccines

ABSTRACT

This paper describes two cases of allograft corneal transplant rejection after the application of two types of COVID-19 vaccines – Coronavac (Sinopharm/Butantan) and MRNA BNT162&2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccines – with an interval of 1 to 10 days, respectively. The rejection manifested in the form of corneal edema, hyperemia and blurred vision, which responded rapidly to the use of topical and subconjunctival corticosteroid. As far as we know, this is the first published report of immunological rejection of penetrating corneal transplant after COVID-19 vaccination.

As a preventative measure, we now recommend the use of 1% prednisolone eye drop 4 days before and during 2 weeks after having received any type of COVID-19 vaccine.

Keywords:
Corneal transplantation; Rejection; Coronavirus; CoronaVac; COVID-19; Pfizer vaccine