VAERS Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Top 12 reported events for Moderna and Pfizer omicron-targeting COVID-19 boosters

This colorized scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects), the virus that causes COVID-19, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. [Image courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]

With updated COVID-19 boosters set to launch in the near future and COVID-related hospitalizations on the rise again, scrutiny is on the rise of emerging variants and the benefit-safety profile of COVID-19 vaccines.

We performed a retrospective analysis of data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), focusing on the period covering the launch of the bivalent COVID-19 boosters in 2022 to August 25, 2023. The data captures 15,592 reported events for the Moderna vaccine and 21,553 for the vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech.

COVID-19 reports: Correlation does not equal causation

Both Moderna and Pfizer vaccine boosters have associated reports of …

No clear link between COVID-19 vaccines and sudden hearing loss

Photo from Pexels

Sudden onset sensorineural hearing loss — sometimes referred to as sudden deafness — occurs in anywhere from 11 to 77 per 100,000 people per year in the U.S.

There have been a handful of case reports of COVID-19 patients having such hearing loss, including a report in BMJ. But as more COVID-19 vaccines become available, there are a small but growing number of reports of vaccinated individuals reporting sudden hearing loss — 14 reports among nearly 31,000 entries (or 0.05%) in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

A Phase 1 clinical trial for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine included a 21-year-old who experienced sudden hearing loss 34 days after vaccination. Neither the investigator nor Johnson & Johnson concluded that the event was linked to the vaccine.

Get the full story from our sister site, Drug Discovery & Development.

No clear link between COVID-19 vaccines and sudden hearing loss

Photo from Pexels

Sudden onset sensorineural hearing loss — sometimes referred to as sudden deafness — occurs in anywhere from 11 to 77 per 100,000 people per year in the U.S.

There have been a handful of case reports of COVID-19 patients having such hearing loss, including a report in BMJ. But as more COVID-19 vaccines become available, there are a small but growing number of reports of vaccinated individuals reporting sudden hearing loss — 14 reports among nearly 31,000 entries (or 0.05%) in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System.

A Phase 1 clinical trial for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine included a 21-year-old who experienced sudden hearing loss 34 days after vaccination. Neither the investigator nor Johnson & Johnson concluded that the event was linked to the vaccine.

[Related: Tinnitus reports grow amid COVID-19 vaccinations]

Several recipients of the Pfizer a…

39-year old Utah woman dies after getting second dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Image from Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexels

Researchers have not found causal links between COVID-19 vaccination and deaths, but a handful of post-vaccine deaths are making headlines.

One such case is the death of Kassidi Kurrill, a 39-year-old resident of Ogden, Utah, who recently passed away four days after receiving the second dose of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

Before her death, Kurrill complained that her heart was racing and was later rushed to the emergency room. Doctors reported that “her liver was not functioning,” according to her father, Alfred Hawley, in an interview with Salt Lake City–based KUTV.

Kurrill died some 30 hours later.

She reported having no significant side effects from the first vaccine dose.

Her family is awaiting autopsy results.

A Miami physician died from immune thrombocytopenia in January after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, but researchers have n…