Is there a link between Bell’s paralysis and the vaccine?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A post is circulating around social media, alleging that three out of four volunteers “developed Bell’s paralysis after being vaccinated by the Pfizer Covid experimental vaccine.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, the exact cause of the disease – also known as peripheral facial nerve paralysis – is unknown and can occur at any age. This condition causes temporary weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles.

Chad Nielsen of UF Health Jacksonville, director of Chad Disease, said such misleading posts are common.

“It’s something popular to hang out on social media, especially with the anti-vaccination crowd,” he said.

It reminds people that not everything posted on social media is true.

“There is no evidence of this with this vaccine yet.” “Certainly, when Pfizer released their clinical trial data, adverse effects were reported and nothing serious. I would say we are dying in the trial there and none of them we are connected to the vaccine. ”

To be clear, four participants in the Pfizer vaccine trial and four participants in the Modernna trial experienced Bell’s paralysis.

In Pfizer’s trial, all four participants experiencing Bell’s paralysis were vaccinated. Three participants who experienced Bell’s paralysis in the Moderna trial were vaccinated, one received a placebo.

Dr. Elizabeth Ransom, Baptist Health, says she should not stop anyone from getting vaccinated.

“There were also some cases of appendicitis, such as in the hands and placebo of the vaccine,” he said. “These things will happen naturally.”

The FDA recognized these cases of Bell’s paralysis before approving Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine but says there is no evidence to link the two. It is important to note that the reaction did not occur immediately after vaccination but in all cases weeks later.

The FDA is now recommending monitoring of Bell’s paralysis cases as more people get vaccinated. There is nothing scientific about linking the two directly, so we will mark this claim as “not true” on the trust index.

The image above accompanies the post, we will also mark it as “not true”.

This photo appears in an article about Bell’s paralysis on November 20, 2019, before the first documentary cases of COVID-19 in the United States.