Why is COVID-19 vaccine being linked to Bell’s palsy?

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A Food and Drug Administration report diffused beliefs that the COVID-19 vaccine causes a facial paralysis called Bell’s palsy, by stating that so far, no connection has been found between the two.
• Bell’s palsy is a temporary weakness on one side of the faces due to an inflammation of the facial nerve.
• Although it is linked to the vaccine, an expert says Bell’s palsy is most probably caused by other reasons, and is treatable with steroids.

A new report released by the Food and Drug Administration stated that contrary to Facebook posts that say the COVID-19 vaccine can cause Bell’s palsy, there had been no causal relationship found between the vaccine and the condition that involves facial paralysis.

According to a 54-page paper issued this week, among the four participants in the Moderna trial, the three who were given the vaccine experienced Bell’s palsy. The FDA noted in an earlier briefing that four Pfizer candidates also had the condition.

However, experts tell Yahoo Life that the condition is most likely a result of other causes and while it is related to the vaccine, it can still be treated with steroids.

Bell’s palsy, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a condition that causes temporary facial paralysis or weakness on one side of the face due to the dysfunction of the cranial nerve VII or facial nerve. 

“It typically comes on very quickly, so most people will get it and within 24-48 hours, their face just drops on that side,” Dr. Leslie Kim, a facial plastic surgeon at the Ohio State University Wexler Medical School tells Yahoo Life. Kim added that about 80 percent or more of people start to improve about two to three weeks later.

While Bell’s palsy typically disappears on its own without treatment, Kim says the only treatment recommended is steroids which are believed to shorten the time to recovery. Sometime, antivirals can be prescribed although the NIH says its benefits have not yet been clearly established.  

Regarding risk factors, Kim notes that COVID-19 may be a possible risk factor based on a study in October in the journal NeuroVirology that showed 8 COVID-19 patients developed Bell’s palsy, three of them as the symptom.  Still, no evidence is found that the condition is caused by the COVID-19 vaccine.

Although the debate on whether the vaccines are linked or not is very controversial, Kim says the condition has been linked to other vaccines in the past such as the nasal spray flu vaccine that reportedly increased the number of cases. Later, the World Health Organization assessed that “specific vaccine components” must have caused it.

Given all of this, Kim doesn’t believe a link exists between the condition and Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines.

“I certainly don’t think at this point we can say it should be a deterrent to getting the vaccine. It’s just something to be aware of.”

Source: AOL.Com