Selective: Pfizer Vaccine and Bell's Palsy
The Claim
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine causes Bell’s palsy.
News posted on
Emerging story
Many on social media claim that the Pfizer vaccine causes Bell’s palsy. One claim was posted as a video that was viewed approximately 2000 times.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar has discovered that Bell’s palsy is the sudden weakness of face muscles that usually occurs on one side of the face, according to MayoClinic.org. The exact cause of Bell's palsy is unknown. It's believed to be the result of swelling and inflammation of the nerve that controls the muscles on one side of your face, or it might be a reaction that occurs after a viral infection.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there were at least four cases of Bell’s palsy in people participating in the vaccine trial with three vaccine recipients and one placebo recipient experiencing this disorder. One participant had diabetes and was hospitalized for stroke due to facial paralysis 32 days after vaccination. Another case was reported 28 days after vaccination. An additional case of Bell’s palsy in the vaccine group was reported 22 days after vaccination in a 72 year old female. There was one case in the placebo group.
On an average day, 110 people will develop Bell’s palsy in the U.S. according to STATnews.com. The trigger for the event often is not known. According to STATnews.com, the jury is still out as to whether Bell’s palsy is an occasional side effect of the vaccine or people who developed it would have developed it even without the vaccine. In other words, the facial paralysis may have been correlated with the vaccine, but the vaccine did not cause the paralysis.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology also weighed in:
To play it safe, the FDA has included Bell’s palsy as something to watch for in their safety report: “Considering the temporal association and biological plausibility, a potential contribution of the vaccine to the manifestations of these events of facial palsy cannot be ruled out. FDA will recommend surveillance for cases of Bell’s palsy with deployment of the vaccine into larger populations.”
While there were more people in the vaccine group versus the placebo group who experienced Bell’s palsy, there does not at this time seem to be enough evidence to conclude that the vaccine was the cause. However, because the vaccine process is just underway, the FDA has recommended watching for any Bell’s palsy to occur post vaccine.
