The CDC has not uncovered any evidence that COVID-19 vaccines may cause tinnitus, despite anecdotal reports from thousands of people reporting the side effect, NBC News reported April 23.
More than 16,000 people have filed adverse events reports with the CDC, saying they've developed tinnitus after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. A CDC spokesperson told NBC News that the agency "did not find any data suggesting a link between COVID-19 vaccines and tinnitus" after reviewing the reports.
Gregory Poland, MD, founder and director of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group in Rochester, Minn., expressed frustration that the CDC has not publicly released this review as it has done for other possible vaccine side effects, such as myocarditis.
"Why has the CDC not done all of the research that they should do on this and published it?" he told NBC News. Dr. Polan developed tinnitus after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine two years ago and said he receives emails "almost daily" from other people reporting the same side effect.
Though research into tinnitus after vaccination is ongoing, one theory is that inflammation in the brain or spinal cord may be to blame, according to Shaowen Bao, PhD, an associate professor of neuroscience and physiology science at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson.
Read the full article here.