COVID-19 Bivalent Vaccine Booster: Can It Make Tinnitus Worse?

Dear Tinnitus Talk friends,

I just joined Tinnitus Talk. I developed debilitating tinnitus after catching COVID-19. They found sudden hearing loss which was corrected with Prednisone, and gradually the tinnitus improved, although it has got worse recently.

I really want to get the COVID-19 bivalent vaccine booster, but I do not want to aggravate the tinnitus. I looked at VAERS (vaccine adverse reaction reports) on the CDC website and trying to interpret it. I know tinnitus was an issue for earlier vaccines but I wonder if it's less common with the Pfizer bivalent.

Has anyone looked at the research on this? Any suggestions?

Thank you so much! My heart goes out to everyone here.

Thanks,
Mary Jane

 

There has been recent research on this that did not find any association between the vaccine and hearing loss or tinnitus. I 100% believe the reports of people saying they got tinnitus following vaccination, whether incidental or causal. My tinnitus happened to start 2 weeks post COVID-19 and flu shot vaccinations in 2021, but I have no idea whether it was the cause - there's no way to know.

If you are at risk of severe disease, then it's possibly worth getting the vaccine. My personal view is that getting a booster is next to pointless if you aren't at risk of severe disease. These vaccines do not prevent the illness or transmission of it. Given prior vaccination or prior illness you should have a robust immune response.

I am not a doctor

 

More vaccinated people have died from COVID-19 than unvaccinated people. You can read that right off of the CDC website.

 

That's lacking some context. The vast majority of the country (~80%) is vaccinated to some extent. So what really matters is what percent of people who are vaccinated die compared to what percent of people who are unvaccinated die. In addition, you have to account for the fact that people who tended to get vaccinated are those who were already susceptible to severe disease. Additionally, vaccine protection wanes over time, so it's inappropriate to insinuate the vaccine is a failure if you die from the disease after having been vaccinated prior to protection waning. Lastly, the virus sadly ripped through the unvaccinated population and took quite a few lives of those most susceptible. I am neither vaccine lover or hater. Just providing context. Happy to hear new information, I'm only committed to the truth.

Why Do Vaccinated People Represent Most COVID-19 Deaths Right Now?