University of Arizona associate professor Shaowen Bao (right) and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky | American Tinnitus Association / CDC.gov
University of Arizona associate professor Shaowen Bao (right) and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky | American Tinnitus Association / CDC.gov
As a University of Arizona associate professor made national news this week for his research into a possible link between the COVID 19 vaccine and tinnitus, a Grand Canyon Times analysis found 453 Arizona reports of post-vaccine tinnutus to the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) vaccine adverse events reporting system.
NBC News reported that, “Shaowen Bao, an associate professor in the physiology department of the College of Medicine at the University of Arizona, Tucson, believes that ongoing inflammation, especially in the brain or spinal cord, may be to blame" for the tinnitus.
Tinnitus is often described as a “ringing in the ears,” but can also contain the symptoms of a buzzing or hissing sounds. The American Tinnitus Association (ATA) said tinnitus is “the perception of sound in the absence of external sound stimuli.”
The World Health Organization reported that tinnitus affects approximately 15-20% of the population.
Bao reportedly surveyed 398 members of a Facebook group “of people who developed tinnitus after getting a COVID vaccine.”
“One man told Bao that he couldn’t hear the car radio over the noise in his head while driving,” reported NBC News. “Along with ringing in their ears, participants reported a range of other symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, vertigo, ear pain, anxiety and depression. Significantly more people first developed tinnitus after the first dose of the vaccine, compared with the second.”
“This suggests ‘that the vaccine is interacting with pre-existing risk factors for tinnitus. If you have the risk factor, you will probably get it from the first dose,’” Bao said.
Bao has yet to publish his findings from the survey.
Bao is a member of the board of directors of the ATA. He received his doctoral degree in neuroscience from University of Southern California, and postdoctoral training on central auditory plasticity at University of California San Francisco, according to his bio page on the ATA website.
A Grand Canyon Times analysis of data reported by the CDC's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) finds a total of 17,440 cases of tinnitus reported in the U.S. following the COVID 19 vaccine.
453 of those cases were in Arizona.
—
How many VAERS reports of tinnitus following the COVID-19 vaccine have been made in each state and U.S. territory?
Alerts Sign-up