Covid vaccines and tinnitus: What we know so far

Thousands of Covid vaccine recipients have reported persistent ringing in their ears after getting the shots, and scientists are still investigating the connection.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that data does not support a link between the vaccines and the condition known as tinnitus, but the problem has become persistent and widespread enough to warrant more attention.

More than 16,000 vaccine users in the US have reported some form of tinnitus after getting the shots, while a Facebook support group called ‘Tinnitus and Hearing Loss/Impairment after COVID vaccination’ has gained 4,000 members.

The risk would be small, even if there is an associationsince 675 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US, According to the CDC.

Dr. Shaowen Bao, a neurophysiologist at the University of Arizona, Tucson’s College of Medicine and a longtime tinnitus patient, set out to investigate the association by testing nearly 400 members of the tinnitus group on Facebook.

While the complaints about ringing in the ears may sound like anti-vaccine propaganda at first glance, the Facebook claims Dr. shots cause deafness.

Many of the patients reported other symptoms, including dizziness and lightheadedness after their injections.

This, Dr Bao said, suggests ‘that the vaccine interacts with pre-existing risk factors for tinnitus. If you have the risk factor, you’ll probably get it from the first dose.”

Tinnitus after vaccination, usually the first injection, could be caused by inflammation around the brain or spinal cord, Dr. Bao said.

Dr. Bao has said, ‘Vaccination is an immune response; it can cause inflammation – peripheral inflammation – and peripheral inflammation can affect the brain where the tinnitus is initiated.

Tinnitus is a common condition that affects as many as 25 percent of American adults.

Patients report a phantom noise in the ear that can be both mild and extremely disruptive to daily life.

It may sound like a persistent ringing, hissing, roaring, or screeching at low or high volume.

Dr. Bao found that the tinnitus was severe in many cases, including one man who experienced ringing so persistent that he could no longer hear his radio.

The study, which has not been published, is one of a handful of studies examining the link between vaccinations and tinnitus.

A 2022 study published in the journal Laryngoscope found that the risk of developing tinnitus after the first dose of the Covid vaccine was low — and, in fact, the risk was higher after receiving other vaccines, such as the flu shot . But just because the risk is low doesn’t mean it’s zero.

Dr. Gregory Poland, founder and director of the Mayo Clinic’s Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minnesota, has described his ordeal with tinnitus after getting his Covid vaccines. to me.’

A lack of CDC-approved research on the little-understood after-effects of vaccination has left patients like Dr. Poland, which said the leading health agency is “unconcerned” about the reports.

The actual total number of people with tinnitus associated with a Covid vaccine is murky at best. In addition to the 4,000-person Facebook group, the CDC’s voluntary reporting database shows at least 16,000 entries from people who have experienced tinnitus at some point after getting the shot.

Onset times vary, with some patients saying the ringing occurred 36 hours after vaccination, while others said about a month.

Some patients saw tinnitus come on after their second injection, but most after their first.

The effect may also be due to prolonged covid or the persistence of symptoms even after recovery from the disease. The most commonly reported of these are fatigue and brain fog, but researchers at Yale University have begun enrolling participants in a study of long-term covid symptoms, including tinnitus.

Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University and clinical long-time Covid researcher, said the tinnitus may be caused by internal vibrations in the ear.

Researchers have not found a cause for tinnitus in general, although several theories exist. A team at Stanford University’s Medicine Molecular Neurotology Laboratory suggested that forms of tinnitus reflect some damage in the inner ear.

Dr. Konstantina Stankovic, an inner ear expert and head and neck surgeon at Stanford, said the brain tries to compensate for the damage in the inner ear “and begins to make a sound of its own.”