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Inhaled Flu Vaccine Strongly Linked To Bell’s Palsy

The February 26^th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine reports that an intranasal (inhaled) flu vaccine used in Switzerland has been associated with a greatly increased risk of developing Bell’s Palsy.

Bell’s Palsy is an acute inflammation of the facial nerve that leads to severe pain and paralysis of the facial muscles that control expressions such as smiling and frowning.

The inhaled flu vaccine in question is called Nasalflu and was first used in the 2000 – 2001 flu season. From October 2000 to April 2001 the Swill Drug Monitoring Center received 46 reports of vaccine recipients developing Bell’s Palsy. Soon after, the vaccine was pulled from the market and a study was begun to examine the extent of the connection. In November 2001 the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined the Swiss study.

In that study, 250 patients with Bell’s Palsy were evaluated and compared to 722 people without the disorder. 27.2% of the Bell’s Palsy patients had been vaccinated with Nasalflu while only 1.1% of the people without Bell’s Palsy had been exposed to the vaccine.

Not liking those results, the researchers decided to use a more conservative approach regarding their assumptions about the risk. Using even the most conservative assumptions, Nasalflu users were nearly 20 times more likely to develop Bell’s Palsy than folks who hadn’t. The highest risk of developing Bell’s Palsy was between 31 and 60 after exposure to the vaccine.

Commentary: We feel that further investigation into the Bell’s Palsy connection is highly important since vaccines are dangerous enough as it is. Inhaled vaccines can be even more dangerous because they bypass most of the body’s major defense mechanisms and provide a direct route to the brain for toxins the vaccines contain.

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