Risk of adverse events and reported clinical relapse after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with IBD.

We have read with interest the recent papers of Kennedy et al 1 2 regarding the attenuated anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody response in patients with IBD and the crucial role of the COVID-19 vaccine in this cohort. The COVID-19 vaccine has been recommended especially for the vulnerable population, including immune-mediated inflammatory diseases.3–5 Therefore, we explored the rate of adverse events (AEs) and the onset of GI symptoms after vaccination with different COVID-19 vaccines in a large cohort of patients with IBD. In this prospective study, we collected data (demographic and clinical variables, COVID-19 vaccine type, local, systemic or allergic AEs, and GI symptoms) from 488 (mean age±SD 55.3±14.4 years, 44.9% male) patients with IBD (UC 50.4%, Crohn’s disease 47.8% and undetermined IBD 1.8%) on regular follow-up at our IBD unit who had been administered COVID-19 vaccination from June to July 2021. The demographic characteristics are shown in table 1. AEs were reported by 228 patients (46.7%) (figure 1). The most common systemic AE after the first dose was malaise (16.4%), followed by headache (12.9%) and asthenia (10.5%). …