Bell’s Palsy after second dose of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination in a patient with history of recurrent Bell’s palsy

• Published in: Brain, behavior, & immunity. Health Vol. 13; p. 100217
• Main Authors: Repajic, Michael, Lai, Xue Lei, Xu, Prissilla, Liu, Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: Short Communication
• ISSN: 2666-3546; 2666-3546
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100217

To report a patient with history of recurrent Bell’s Palsy who developed Bell’s Palsy 36 ​h after the administration of the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The patient is a 57-year-old female with past medical history of 3 episodes of Bell’s Palsy. She responded to prednisone treatment and returned to her baseline after each occurrence. Less than 36 ​h following the second dose of the vaccine, the patient developed a left Bell’s Palsy. The facial droop progressed in severity over the next 72 ​h. Given the expedited production of the vaccine and the novelty associated with its production, there may be information pertaining to side effects and individual response that remain to be discovered. Since both the Moderna and Pfizer Vaccine trials reported Bell’s Palsy as medically attended adverse events, the association between vaccine administration and onset of symptomatic Bell’s Palsy may warrant further investigation.