Death and Bell’s Palsy has been the talks on social media of Pfizer’s vaccine.
One of the vaccine recipients had a cardiac arrest 62 days after a second dose of the two-dose vaccination and died three days later. The other died from arteriosclerosis three days after a first dose of the vaccination. One of the placebo recipients died from myocardial infarction, another from haemorrhagic stroke and two others from unknown causes.
The FDA briefings clarify that the deaths were not deemed to be related to the vaccine: “None of these deaths were assessed by the investigator as related to study intervention”. They explain: “All deaths represent events that occur in the general population of the age groups where they occurred, at a similar rate.”
The social media post claims that Pfizer used a “deadly placebo” in order to manipulate data. Pfizer documents show that the placebo is a normal saline, specifically a 0.9% sodium chloride solution for injection, which means it is simply a mixture of salt and water.
The FDA briefing documents also show that it is true that there were four cases of Bell’s Palsy among those who received the vaccine. Bell’s Palsy is a sudden weakness or freezing of muscles on one side of the face, which in most cases is temporary ( here , here ).
The briefing says that the frequency of Bell’s Palsy in the vaccine group is “consistent with the expected background rate in the general population”, adding there is “no clear basis upon which to conclude a causal relationship at this time”. The FDA said it would, however, recommend “surveillance” for cases of Bell’s Palsy as the vaccine is sent out to larger groups of people.
