A social media post claims that six people died from the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. This statement is false. Six people died during trials, but only two of these volunteers received the vaccine, and none of the deaths were judged by the investigator to be related to study intervention.
The report shows a picture taken from a TV news broadcast and reports that six people died during the Pfizer BioNTech trials (here). The image is in turn with the caption: “6 people who have died so far from the vaccine, as well as four others, have developed Bells Palsy, a paralysis of the face … but hey, this vaccine is” safe ” “.
Six participants did die during the Pfizer vaccine trial of 44,000 people, two of whom received the vaccine while the other four people received a placebo (here).
Of the vaccine recipients, one had a cardiac arrest 62 days after a second dose of the two-dose vaccination and died three days later, while the other one died of steriosclerosis three days after the first dose of the vaccine (here).
One of the placebo recipients died of myocardial infarction, another of hemorrhagic stroke and two others due to unknown causes.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) information documents consider the deaths unrelated to the vaccine: “None of these deaths were considered by the investigator to be related to study intervention” (here).
They explain: ‘All deaths are at a similar rate in the general population of the age groups where they occurred.’ (here).
The documents also show that it is true that there were four cases of Bell’s Palsy among those who received the vaccine (here).
Bell’s Palsy is a sudden weakness or freezing of muscles on one side of the face, which in most cases is temporary (here).
The briefing states that the frequency of Bell’s Palsy in the vaccine group is “consistent with the expected background rate in the general population”, adding that “there is no clear basis for concluding a causal link at this time. not “(here).
The FDA has said it will recommend “surveillance” for cases of Bell’s Palsy as the vaccine is sent to larger groups of people.
VERDICT
Untrue. Six people did die during the 44,000 people who did Pfizer vaccine trials, but only two of them got the vaccine, the other four got a placebo salt and water. None of the deaths were judged by the investigator to be related to the trial. No causal link has been made between the four cases of Bell’s Palsy and the vaccine.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.