Important: VAERS reports alone cannot determine if a vaccine caused an adverse event. Reports may contain incomplete, inaccurate, or unverified information. Correlation does not equal causation.
Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) is a rare neurological condition where the immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. It has a small but established association with certain vaccines — here's what the data shows.
Guillain-Barré Syndrome causes the immune system to attack the myelin sheath surrounding peripheral nerves. Symptoms include:
GBS is most commonly triggered by infections — especially Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus. The vaccine association is much smaller than the infection association.
The most established vaccine-GBS association. Studies estimate approximately1-2 additional GBS cases per million flu vaccine doses. This was first identified during the 1976 swine flu vaccination campaign, which had a higher rate (~1 per 100,000). Modern flu vaccines have a much smaller risk.
Importantly, influenza infection itself carries a higher GBS risk than the vaccine — about 17 times higher per the CDC. So vaccination actually reduces your overall GBS risk by preventing the flu.
The J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine was found to have a small increased risk of GBS, estimated at about 8 cases per million doses in the first 6 weeks. This was one factor in the CDC's preference recommendation for mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna) over J&J. J&J is no longer available in the U.S.
Studies have generally not found an increased GBS risk with mRNA COVID vaccines. The adenoviral vector mechanism in J&J appears to be the relevant factor, not COVID vaccination in general.
VAERS contains reports of GBS after various vaccines. As with all VAERS data, these are reports of temporal association — not confirmed causation. The established associations described above come from large epidemiological studies, not from VAERS alone.
GBS is on the Vaccine Injury Table, meaning that GBS occurring within a defined time window after certain vaccines is eligible for compensation through theVaccine Injury Compensation Program.
For most people, yes. The risk of GBS from vaccination is extremely small (1-2 per million) and the risk of GBS from the infections that vaccines prevent is typically higher. However, people who have had GBS within 6 weeks of a previous vaccine dose should discuss future vaccination with their neurologist.