Bell’s Palsy is not that rare, which is likely why cases were reported in the COVID-19 clinical trials and continue to be reported after the vaccines received EUA.
“People who have previously had Bell’s palsy may receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Cases of Bell’s palsy were reported following vaccination in participants in the COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not consider these to be more than the rate expected in the general population. They have not concluded these cases were caused by vaccination.”
Medical Conditions
Bell’s Palsy is not actually caused by any of these COVID-19 vaccines though.
COVID-19 Vaccines Are Not Associated With Bell’s Palsy
Associations between COVID-19 vaccines and Bell’s palsy have now been studied extensively.
“When compared with other viral vaccines, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines did not display a signal of facial paralysis.”
Association of Facial Paralysis With mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines A Disproportionality Analysis Using the World Health Organization Pharmacovigilance Database
And except for a few case reports, there is no evidence that we are seeing more cases of Bell’s Palsy in those who have been vaccinated, or that getting vaccinated is causing anyone to develop Bell’s Palsy.
So why are we reading about folks developing Bell’s palsy after getting their COVID-19 vaccine?
Again, it is mostly because Bell’s palsy is relatively common and a lot of people are getting vaccinated and protected against COVID-19!
“Bell’s palsy is a fairly prevalent disorder that affects males and females in equal numbers. It is estimated that between 25 and 35 in 100,000 people in the United States are affected with Bell’s palsy. Approximately 40,000 individuals are diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in the United States each year.”
Bell’s Palsy
With 3 to 4 million getting vaccinated and protected each day, a lot of those people will naturally develop Bell’s palsy just because they were going to develop Bell’s palsy. It is just a coincidence that they also happened to recently get their COVID-19 vaccine.
More on COVID-19 Vaccine Safety
- Do Vaccines Cause Bell’s Palsy?
- COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Update
- COVID-19 Vaccination Questions and Answers
- The Truth About COVID-19 Vaccines
- CDC – Medical Conditions
- Bell’s Palsy
- Association of Facial Paralysis With mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines A Disproportionality Analysis Using the World Health Organization Pharmacovigilance Database
- Facial Palsy and Covid-19 vaccine
- Bell’s palsy and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines
- AAO-HNS Statement on Treatment of Idiopathic Facial Paralysis (Bell’s Palsy) During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- AAO-HNS Statement on Bell’s Palsy Related to Approved COVID-19 Vaccines
- Fact check: Anaphylaxis and Bell’s palsy are not the most common side-effects of COVID-19 vaccines
- The curse of the incidental illness: Seen as side effects to Covid vaccinations, ailments may have little to do with them
- ‘No record’ of Nashville nurse who claims to have developed Bell’s palsy from COVID-19 vaccine
- Fact check: Bell’s palsy among COVID-19 trial participants likely unrelated to Pfizer vaccine
- Does the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic really increase the frequency of peripheral facial palsy?
- Characterizing the incidence of adverse events of special interest for COVID-19 vaccines across eight countries: a multinational network cohort study
- Estimating Baseline Incidence of Conditions Potentially Associated with Vaccine Adverse Events: a Call for Surveillance System Using the Korean National Health Insurance Claims Data