Do COVID Vaccines Cause Tinnitus? The CDC Declines to Investigate

Scientists and published studies suggest a connection between the two. COVID-19 Vaccinations TinnitusThe common name for this is “ringing in the ears.”

About 25 million Americans have tinnitus. According to the American Tinnitus Association (ATA).

According to the ATA, tinnitus can be referred to as “ringing in the ears,” It can be a lot. “many different perceptions of sound, including buzzing, hissing, whistling, swooshing, and clicking.” Tinnitus sufferers can hear music in some cases.

Gregory Poland, a Mayo Clinic MD who directs the Vaccine Research Group in the Mayo Clinic, noticed the problem within one hour of receiving his second dose of COVID vaccine 2021.

He returned from the shot and felt a sudden ringing in both his ears.

“It startled me,” The 67-year old NBC News. “I thought it was a parade whistle going off right next to me.”

Poland is a leading country in vaccine research and the editor-in-chief for the medical journal. VaccineThis is one of thousands of people who think that the COVID shot may have caused tinnitus.

It is well-established. connection between COVID-19 infection and the condition as well as other neurological conditions associated with long-term COVID.

The difficulties Poland raises are problematic, Stanford otolaryngologist Konstantina M. Stankovic told National Geographic (NatGeo).

“Tinnitus is a phantom sound that is generated by the brain, and the brain typically makes it when there is an injury to the inner ear,” she explained, adding that the lack of objective markers is a “huge impediment” in the field. “We have to rely on patient reports and subjective questionnaires.”

As of Feb. 3, the VAERS system, the CDC’s passive monitoring system for self-reporting of adverse vaccine reactions, had reports of over 16,000 cases of tinnitus post-vaccination, and a study last March that referenced the VAERS database in September of 2021 cited the number of reports at that time as 12,247.

Johnson and Johnson lists tinnitus as a potential side effect of their adenovirus-based vaccine and the European Medical Agency added the condition to its list of possible side effects for the Astra-Zeneca vaccine last July.

Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines do not currently acknowledge tinnitus as a potential side effect of their shots, but a study by the WHO linked the condition to the Pfizer vaccine.

Another pre-print study, authored by Loren J. Bartels, a clinical professor of Otolaryngology at University of South Florida College of Medicine, found that the COVID-19 vaccines were associated with statistically significant increases in certain side effects. The study found that per 100,000 people, 1,877 experienced vertigo, 50 experienced tinnitus, 12 experienced hearing loss, and 14 experienced Bell’s palsy.

In relation to the mRNA vaccines, the adenovirus vaccine was associated with a statistically significant excess incidence of vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss of at least 723, 57, and 55 cases per 100,000, respectively.

The study found a connection between the COVID-19 vaccines and these conditions. The results, the study said, “also suggest that, with respect to vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss, the association is relatively strong for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.”

CDC Response

On Feb. 8, Martha Sharan, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told NatGeo that the agency has determined it does “not have sufficient evidence from our surveillance to justify launching an epidemiologic study.”

According to NatGeo, the CDC says it looked for tinnitus diagnoses that occurred up to 70 days after COVID vaccination in 6.6 million people’s medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a collaboration between CDC and 13 health care organizations that conduct active vaccine safety monitoring and research.

The agency said in September that it found no evidence that tinnitus diagnoses were clustered together following vaccination but hasn’t published that analysis and declined to share the preliminary report with the press.

Paul Offit, MD, of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, was dismissive of the connection, telling NatGeo that “[a]s a general rule, side effects associated with vaccines are associated with the immune response to the vaccine.”

But this statement is not borne out by several of the studies cited above, including the WHO’s, which cited inflammation of the vestibulocochlear nerve as a plausible mechanism of action and suggested  “awareness of this possible link may help healthcare professionals and those vaccinated to monitor symptoms and seek care, as appropriate. As there is still only limited data in the literature providing evidence for this link, further monitoring is required.”

As for Dr. Poland, who is also an advisor on vaccines for Johnson and Johnson,  he told NBC News, “I sat one night looking at the stars and tears came to my eyes when the thought occurred to me out of the blue: I may never hear silence again.” He said that he wakes up in the middle of the night, unable to ignore the blaring whistle in his ears.

Still, he remains committed to the vaccines.

Having taken his booster shot, he said, “A wise person looks at the balance of risks and benefits and says, ‘well, there are some known risks to the vaccine, but they are far lower than the risks of getting the disease.'”

Treatment of Tinnitus

There is no cure per se for tinnitus, but, according to the Mayo Clinic, treatment options vary depending on the underlying cause, and range from ear wax removal to treating an underlying blood vessel condition to the prescription of a hearing aid.  Some individuals, including the actor William Shatner, have found relief with tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT).

Shatner told Weekend Edition host Scott Simon in 2012 that he was diagnosed with tinnitus about 15 years earlier and described his particular tinnitus tone as sounding like an empty television channel that broadcasts a constant “hiss-static.”

Shatner then describes an audiometer test that identified the sound of his tinnitus. He said, “And when [the audiometer] reached the same timber and tone of my sound, I broke into tears. Somebody had hacked their way through this jungle of sound where I was totally alone in my agony, and somebody had reached me and it just moved me to tears.”

The treatment combines sound masking and counseling. Typically, the patient wears a device in the ear that helps mask tinnitus symptoms while also receiving directive counseling. Over time, TRT may help patients notice tinnitus less and feel less distressed by symptoms.

While natural treatments have uncertain efficacy, research has found that certain practices can reduce the distress caused by tinnitus, even if they don’t resolve the condition. A study published in Frontiers in Neurology in 2019 found a “statistically significant decrease in tinnitus distress scores directly after mindfulness therapy.” A research review in the same journal also in 2019 noted that cognitive behavior therapy could have a similar effect.

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