Azam Safary
1,2 
, Mostafa Akbarzadeh-Khiavi
3 , Jaleh Barar
4 , Yadollah Omidi
2* 1 Connective Tissue Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
2 Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Biomedicine Institute, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
3 Liver and Gastrointestinal Diseases Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran
4 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy, Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33328, USA
Abstract
Induced autoimmunity or autoinflammatory-like conditions as a rare vaccine-related adverse event have been reported following COVID-19 vaccination. Such inadvertent adverse reactions have raised somewhat concerns about the long-term safety of the developed vaccines. Such multifactorial phenomena may be related to the cross-reactivity between the viral-specific antigens with the host self-proteins through molecular mimicry mechanism and/or nonspecific bystander activation of the non-target antigen-independent immunity by the entities of the vaccine products. However, due to the low incidence of the reported/identified individuals and insufficient evidence, autoimmunity following the COVID-19 vaccination has not been approved. Thereby, it seems that further designated studies might warrant post-monitoring of the inevitable adverse immunologic reactions in the vaccinated individuals, especially among hypersensitive cases, to address possible immunological mechanisms induced by the viral vaccines, incorporated adjuvants, and even vaccine delivery systems.