A new study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Institute has found that the risk for a new-encounter diagnosis of retinal vascular occlusion (RVO) is extremely low among patients who received the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The study retrospectively analyzed more than 3 million patients who received the vaccine and found that RVO diagnosed acutely after vaccination was rare and occurred at similar rates to those observed with other vaccinations, such as the influenza and tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (Tdap) vaccines. The study provides further evidence of the safety of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and supports its use in the ongoing fight against the pandemic. However, the researchers noted that certain patient groups may be too few to produce significant results at a population level and that electronic health record data could mask an association between the vaccine and RVO.

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