Acute neurocognitive effects of COVID-19 vaccines remain poorly documented, particularly in African populations. The systemic inflammatory response following vaccination could transiently modulate brain function. This study aimed to conduct an exploratory cross-sectional assessment of the acute effects of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on selective attention and verbal memory in participants from Côte d'Ivoire. We compared the cognitive performance of 28 participants tested 30 minutes after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine with 28 non-vaccinated controls. Participants were stratified by educational level (primary, secondary, university). Cognitive performance was assessed using the Stroop test and the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Independent samples t‑tests were applied with significance set at p ≤ 0.05. A statistically significant improvement in Stroop interference performance (selective attention) was observed in the vaccinated secondary-level group compared to controls (p = 0.005). In the primary-level group, vaccinated participants showed significantly lower scores on the RAVLT deferred recognition task (p = 0.01). No other significant differences were found for RAVLT performance or for other Stroop conditions and educational levels. This exploratory study did not find evidence of widespread acute cognitive deficits following vaccination with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. However, the specific effects observed, a potential enhancement of attention in secondary-level group and a potential disruption of memory recognition in the primary-level group, highlight the need for larger, longitudinal studies to confirm these findings and explore the underlying neuro-immune mechanisms.
Badie et al. (Tue,) studied this question.