A new study is showing Herpes infections may be a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine, after there have been six cases of patients developing a skin rash, known as herpes zoster.
Herpes zoster is also known as shingles which starts off as a small, itchy skin rash, but can cause nerve damage and pain if left untreated.
The skin rash developed on six people out of 491 and all the six did have mild cases of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases and were young, although the infection is generally more common in people over 50.
However it is still unclear if the vaccine is the actual cause, but Dr. Victoria Furer said "We can say it might be a trigger in some patients."
She continued to explained further research needs to be done but patients that have a autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease may be encouraged to get vaccinated against herpes zoster before their COVID-19 shot.
Furer doesn't want to scare people because she still believes the overall message is to get vaccinated, but to also be aware.