Health Canada adds Bell’s Palsy warning to Pfizer labels, but says vaccine is safe

By Edward Era Barbacena

Health Canada has updated the label on the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to reflect very rare reports of Bell’s Palsy.

Bell's palsy is an unexplained episode of facial muscle weakness or paralysis. It begins suddenly and worsens over 48 hours. This condition results from damage to the facial nerve (the 7th cranial nerve). Pain and discomfort usually occur on one side of the face or head. Bell's palsy can strike anyone at any age.

In very rare scenarios, cases of Bell’s Palsy have been reported in a number of people in Canada and internationally.

So far in Canada, “there has been a total of 206 reports of Bell’s Palsy following a Pfizer vaccination,” the health agency told Global News in an email Friday.

Symptoms after vaccination may include temporary weakness or paralysis on one side of the face, according to an advisory issued by the department.

Other symptoms include, “uncoordinated movement of the muscles that control facial expression; loss of feeling in the face; headache; tearing from the eye; drooling; lost sense of taste on the front two-thirds of the tongue; hypersensitivity to sound in one ear; or inability to close an eye on one side of the face,” according to the advisory.

However, Health Canada stressed that the cases are few, and ultimately very rare.

More than 50 million doses of vaccine have been administered in Canada to date, and Health Canada has received 2,849 reports of serious adverse events, including heart inflammation, allergic reactions, blood clots and strokes.

Health Canada advises people who feel the symptoms of Bell’s Palsy to seek medical attention.

Source: Google/Global News