Studies: AstraZeneca COVID Vaccine Tied to Guillain-Barré Syndrome

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Facts

  • Three separate studies have found a link between the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and an increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) among people who were administered the shots.1
  • GBS is a rare but deadly autoimmune disorder in which a person's peripheral nervous system is attacked, causing prolonged paralysis in some cases.2
  • According to one analysis of UK National Health System data by a team of scientists, of a total of 966 GBS cases studied, 196 (about 20%) developed the condition within the first six weeks of receiving a first COVID jab. 176 of these 196 cases had received the AstraZeneca vaccine versus other brands.3
  • In September 2021, the European Medicines Agency also added GBS as a possible side-effect of AstraZeneca's 'Vaxzevria' after 833 cases were reported out of 592M doses administered worldwide.4
  • Vaxzevria has also been alleged to have caused other conditions, including severe brain injury and vaccine-induced immune thrombosis and thrombocytopenia.5
  • However, AstraZeneca claims its vaccine meets stringent regulatory standards and has an 'acceptable safety profile,' adding that Vaxzevria's benefits 'outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.'6

Sources: 1The telegraph, 2Ucl news, 3Medicalxpress, 4Reuters, 5BBC News and 6The bmj.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by The telegraph. Notwithstanding the millions of lives that AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria has saved, the victims of its serious side effects need to be viewed separately as a category, and their plight treated with as much sensitivity as the pandemic itself. It reminds us of the imperfect risks of drug development and testing — especially during the heightened tensions during a pandemic — and that there can be unintended consequences.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Independent. The actual incidents of GBS resulting from Vaxzevria seem disproportionately low to the actual risk involved. It's not difficult to imagine the scale of the tragedy the world would have faced — especially the nations with weaker healthcare infrastructure — if Vaxzevria had not been one of the few silver bullets to have emerged at a crucial juncture. That 'big picture' must not be lost sight of as the globe was rushing to market life-saving vaccines during the COVID pandemic.

Predictions