New York
COVID-19 vaccines once again find themselves in the middle of a storm as some people in the United States say that Covid shots have led them to develop a condition called Tinnitus. However, just like previous such claims, there is no proof that vaccines are responsible for causing the health issue.
Tinnitus is when a person hears a ringing in the ear which cannot be linked to external forces. People who claim to have developed the problem after getting the Covid vaccine formed a Facebook group and convinced Shaowen Bao, an associate professor in the physiology department of the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson, to look at the connection.
Bao told NBC News that the ringing in the ear is possibly due to ongoing inflammation, especially in the brain or spinal cord. He is also a representative of the American Tinnitus Association's scientific advisory board.
When Bao started to investigate whether the two are linked in some way, he found that the condition was particularly severe in some people. One man told him that the noise in his head was so strong that he could not hear the car radio. Bao also noticed that tinnitus cropped up in most of the patients after taking the first dose of the vaccine.
Besides the ringing in the ear, patients also complained of headaches, dizziness, vertigo, ear pain, anxiety and depression.
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What does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say?
CDC has received at least 16,183 complaints from people who say they developed tinnitus following a Covid shot. However, the CDC says that in its internal reviews, it "did not find any data suggesting a link between COVID-19 vaccines and tinnitus".
The reviews haven't been made public, as it did for inflammation of the heart, one of the alleged side effects of the vaccine. Vaccine expert Dr Gregory Poland, founder and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, isn't happy that the CDC did not conduct sufficient research into the matter. He is one of the many patients who say the vaccine caused tinnitus. Poland has slammed CDC for remaining "unconcerned" about the reports of tinnitus.
Poland says he hears a constant, shrill whistle, which affects his sleep and quality of life. He says that while some days the condition is tolerable, other days he could just "scream".
He spoke about his problem publicly, after which hundreds of people reached out to him.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is described as a phantom noise in one's ear. This means that no one else can hear the sound the patient is hearing. In the US, tinnitus affects 25 per cent of adults and can also happen in kids. It can happen due to a number of reasons, including age-related hearing loss, medications, ear infections and high blood pressure. The CDC's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System says that besides the Covid vaccine, it has also received reports of tinnitus after other vaccines and infections.
Poland believes the virus's spike protein is causing tinnitus. In fact, he says, it is wreaking havoc in the body in other ways as well.
"After mRNA vaccines, there is some level of spike protein that circulates," Poland said. Could it be much like the spike protein in the heart that leads to myocarditis? Could the same thing happen in the inner ear?" he told NBC.
If you are experiencing tinnitus, visit an ear, nose and throat specialist to understand if there is any underlying reason.
(With inputs from agencies)
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