There have been several concerns raised over Covid-19 Pfizer vaccine trials, as there have been reports of participants contracting Bell’s palsy post-trial. A Facebook post from Dec. 12 mentioned how four participants of a Pfizer vaccine developed Bell’s palsy. With the FDA authorizing the use of the COVID-19 vaccine, such concerns might raise a few eyebrows in the administration.
A later post explained the phenomenon of Bell’s palsy, which is simply a paralysis or weakness of the muscles in the face. Also, the post claimed that the side effect from the vaccine was thought to be ‘non-serious’, despite images surfacing of individuals with facial expressions that are lopsided. Most readers have been asked to form an opinion after searching it for themselves on the official link of FDA.
But there have also been conflicting and controversial images and headlines uploaded on social media platforms. One such post had a screenshot from a headline from Daily Mail which was then contrasted with three completely different humans.
Bell’s palsy likely unrelated to the vaccine
December 10 saw the FDA organize a meeting for the authorization of the Pfizer vaccine under the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
There was a briefing of about 53-pages which noted that there were around four separate cases of Bell’s palsy in participants- of which all of them were from the group that was vaccinated. The symptoms for such showed up at individual time points- for one, the symptoms showed after three days and then got resolved within three days. On the other hand, the other three patients had symptoms displayed after nine, 37, and 48 days which lasted for close to a week and more.
Considering the incidence rate of this disease, it was found out that finding stood true to the expected background rate present in the current population. Therefore, there was no causal relationship between Bell’s palsy and the Pfizer vaccine.
