Why do some people think that vaccines, specifically COVID vaccines, can cause tinnitus?
The usual suspects…
Can Vaccines Cause Tinnitus?
Do reports of tinnitus in the VAERS database mean that COVID vaccines are causing tinnitus?
“VAERS accepts all reports of adverse health events following vaccinations without judging whether the vaccine caused the adverse health event. Some reports to VAERS represent true vaccine reactions and others are coincidental adverse health events and not related to vaccination. Overall, a causal relationship cannot be established using information from VAERS report alone.”
VAERS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Of course not!
Could COVID vaccines be causing tinnitus?
Anything is possible, but it is important to note that except for a few case reports, there is no evidence that other vaccines cause tinnitus.
And vaccines also don’t cause hearing loss or sudden deafness (sudden sensorineural hearing loss or SSHL), which is often associated with tinnitus.
“A large-scale analysis applying a case-centered method did not detect any association between SSHL and previous receipt of TIV or other vaccines.”
Sudden-Onset Sensorineural Hearing Loss after Immunization: A Case-Centered Analysis
So why would COVID vaccines cause tinnitus?
They probably don’t.
What about the reports of tinnitus in VAERS?
Considering that over 274 million doses of COVID vaccines have been administered in the United States alone, the nearly 1,900 reports of tinnitus in VAERS, even if they were caused by the vaccine, would make it a very rare side effect.
About 1 in 145,000 dosages rare.
“It is a common problem for millions of people, as epidemiologic studies have reported its prevalence to be between 8 to 25.3% of the population of the United States.”
Tinnitus Epidemiology: Prevalence, Severity, Exposures And Treatment Patterns In The United States
And considering just how common tinnitus and SSHL are, you would expect many people to coincidentally develop these conditions after they get their COVID vaccine.
“Experts estimate that SSHL strikes between one and six people per 5,000 every year, but the actual number of new SSHL cases each year could be much higher because SSHL often goes undiagnosed.”
Sudden Deafness
Of course, that doesn’t mean that they were caused by the vaccine they just received.
More on Vaccines and Tinnitus
- COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Update
- COVID-19 Vaccination Questions and Answers
- The Truth About COVID-19 Vaccines
- How Often Do Severe Events Occur After Vaccines?
- Is It a Vaccine Reaction?
- Should I Blame the Vaccine If I’m Sick and I Just Got Vaccinated?
- Mistaking Subsequence for Consequence
- ATA – Tinnitus and the Coronavirus
- VAERS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Sudden-Onset Sensorineural Hearing Loss after Immunization: A Case-Centered Analysis
- Tinnitus Epidemiology: Prevalence, Severity, Exposures And Treatment Patterns In The United States
- Sudden Deafness