BETHEL PARK, Pa. Some negative side effects of the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been reported worldwide, but a Bethel Park woman told Channel 11 she was affected by something not yet seen. not everything yet: paralysis.
The 33-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was feeling well in the hours after receiving the first dose of Pfizer vaccine last week. However, she said 12 hours later she woke up in the middle of the night with no feeling in her arms or legs.
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“It was the scariest thing in the world to go to bed (and walk) perfectly fine, to wake up at 1:30 in the morning and not be able to move at all,” the woman said. “I literally count on my daughter giving me my phone to call for help.”
Paramedics rushed her to Jefferson Hospital. In the coming days, she was moved to the Allgheny General Hospital in the Northside and then the Cleveland Clinic, as doctors performed a multitude of tests to find out how and why it happened. An MRI and spinal tap was evident, and her blood work made everything negative and ruled out any rare diseases or ailments.
‘There’s just nothing they can find wrong with me. No underlying conditions, I have nothing in my history and they say to me, ‘You are healthy and we can not figure out why it’s going on,’ “the woman told Channel 11.
Luckily, she was able to regain feeling and strength in her arms, but she still has no function from the bottom of her chest other than the slight movement in a few toes.
Dr. Dave Weber, a contagious doctor at UPMC, said he had never heard anything like it in the world with the Pfizer vaccine.
“I know for sure that there is more than one explanation, and it would be premature to judge whether it is one of the side effects of the vaccine or not,” Weber said. “I think there should definitely be looked at and reported.”
Pfizer’s director of global media relations has issued the following statement about the mysterious paralysis of this woman:
‘We take adverse events that may be related to our COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162b2, very seriously. We keep a close eye on all such events and gather relevant information to share with global regulators. At this stage, our ongoing investigation has not identified any safety signals with paralysis and the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. To date, more than 2001 million people around the world have been vaccinated with our vaccine. It is important to note that serious side effects unrelated to the vaccine will unfortunately occur at a similar rate as in the general population. ”
Meanwhile, the woman is worried that her condition indicates the vaccine and fears it could be permanent. Her family confirmed with Channel 11 that her case had been reported to Pfizer.