Alliance Urges the CDC’s ICD-10 Committee to Deny the Request for a Proposed ICD-10-CM Code for “Adverse Effect of COVID-19 Vaccines”
Published May 14, 2026
Today, the Alliance for Aging Research submitted public comments to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) ICD-10-CM Coordination and Maintenance Committee on the proposed addition of a COVID-19 vaccine-specific adverse effect code (T50.B25).
In the comments, the Alliance raises concerns that while a new code would theoretically enable clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals to better identify and study adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccines, it is also likely to become a catch-all code for symptoms that share one thing in common–not being attributable to other known causes.
Proponents of the code believe that it could be used to track a proposed condition called post-acute COVID vaccination syndrome (PACVS), however, it is not yet clinically validated or a widely accepted diagnosis, and a diagnosis of PACVS is currently a diagnosis of exclusion. It is unclear what the proposed code would add at this point, until a clearly defined clinical entity exists for PACVS.
The Alliance urged the Committee to deny the request for this new code until there is 1) a clearly defined clinical entity for PACVS, and 2) more information showing that a new code would create more clarity and transparency.