On December 17, 2020, first responders in the state of Tennessee began receiving a vaccine for COVID-19.
In the days that followed, the Tennessee Department of Health shared testimonials from doctors, nurses, firefighters, and other front-line workers about their experiences with the vaccine.
Although this collection of testimonials from real health workers in Tennessee was largely positive and encouraged citizens to be vaccinated when it was time, it was an unverified video of a woman claiming to be a nurse who went viral on social media and has sparked controversy over the COVID. -19 vaccine.
During the Christmas holiday in 2020, a video of a woman claiming to start circulating a registered nurse in Nashville, Tennessee, named Khalilah Mitchell, on social media sites like 4chan. Twitter and Facebook. This video has also been posted several times on YouTube and other web hosting sites like Bitchute. While we are not sure how many people watched this video in total, one version posted on Twitter was viewed nearly 50,000 times. By comparison, the testimonials published by the Tennessee Department of Health typically received between 20 and 50 shares.
In the video, the woman claims that a few days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, she developed Bell’s paralysis, a form of temporary facial paralysis:
We could not confirm too many details about this viral video. It is unclear where it originated, where it was filmed or even who it shows. When we reached out to the Department of Health in Tennessee, a spokesman told us, ‘We have no record of anyone with that name in our health care licensing system.’
Seana Davis, a specialist with incorrect information at Euronews, also report that the Tennessee Department of Health had no record of Khalilah Mitchell as a registered nurse:
It should also be noted that there is no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine causes Bell’s paralysis.
In early December 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a report on the COVID-19 vaccine trials conducted in the days leading up to the approval of the new drug. This report found that four people (out of about 22,000) who took part in the vaccination test developed Bell’s paralysis. But the report also noted that this frequency rate was below the expected background figure of Bell’s paralysis in the general population. In other words, there is no evidence that this condition was cause by the vaccine.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) writes that the United States has a robust safety program in place to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccine is as safe as possible:
The United States currently has the safest vaccine supply in its history. The country’s long-standing vaccine safety system ensures that vaccines are as safe as possible.
Vaccination of safety is an important part of the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As vaccines are developed and made available, public awareness of their safety, both initially and during prolonged use, is an important part of a successful national vaccination effort.
The CDC’s Office of Immunization Safety works to provide timely and transparent information on vaccine safety to officials, healthcare providers and the public. The office conducts vaccine safety monitoring and clinical research to keep the vaccine safe.
Read more about various safety precautions that health officials take to ensure the COVID-19 vaccine is safe here.