On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that they were investigating whether the Bivalent Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine creates an increased risk of ischemic stroke in people 65 and older, after discovering a preliminary COVID-19 vaccine “safety signal.”
In a statement, the CDC said that the preliminary signal hasn’t been present with the Bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
“Following the availability and use of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines, CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent,” the CDC said.
“Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-44 following vaccination,” it continued.
The CDC also pointed to a study, which stated that updated bivalent vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech “using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database revealed no increased risk of ischemic stroke.”
The agency also said that the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System managed by CDC and FDA hasn’t seen an increase of ischemic strokes following the updated vaccine and added that “A preliminary study using the Veterans Affairs database did not indicate an increased risk of ischemic stroke following an updated (bivalent) vaccine.”
“Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal,” they continued. “CDC and FDA will continue to evaluate additional data from these and other vaccine safety systems.”
The statement concluded, stating that the CDC does not recommend a “change in vaccination practice,” reiterating that the “CDC continues to recommend that everyone ages 6 months of age and older stay up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccination; this includes individuals who are currently eligible to receive an updated (bivalent) vaccine.”
A spokesperson for Pfizer told Fox News that, “Pfizer and BioNTech have been made aware of limited reports of ischemic stroke that have been observed in the CDC Vaccine Safety DataLink (VSD) database in people 65 and older following vaccination with the Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID-19 Vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech.”
“Neither Pfizer and BioNTech nor the CDC or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have observed similar findings across numerous other monitoring systems in the U.S. and globally and there is no evidence to conclude that ischemic stroke is associated with the use of the companies’ COVID-19 vaccines,” the spokesperson continued.
“Compared to published incidence rates of ischemic stroke in this older population, the companies to date have observed a lower number of reported ischemic strokes following the vaccination with the Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine. The CDC continues to recommend vaccination with the Pfizer-BioNTech Omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent COVID-19 vaccine for all authorized ages and indications,” they concluded.
Dr. Marc Siegel, a medical contributor to Fox, said that this finding is not definitive proof of a link between strokes and vaccination.
“This is not proof,” he said. “This is that they see there may be a link here, and they want to investigate it, and they’re trying to be transparent.”
Recently, an uptick in young, healthy individuals suddenly suffering unusual or unexplained health issues, which have even caused some deaths, have led some to point to vaccines as a possible culprit.
Imo Essien, a student at Old Dominion college, collapsed during a basketball game earlier this week, stating that this type of thing, “doesn’t happen” to young, healthy individuals.
Speaking to WTKR-TV Norfolk on Tuesday, a recovered Essien said, “This doesn’t happen, especially for someone like me. I’ve been playing basketball all my life.”
Essien also expressed his complete surprise during a brief interview with The Virginian-Pilot, “Me?” Essien said incredulously. “Nineteen years old and healthy? Living how I’m living? I compete every day. … So why me?”
In the past week, multiple students across the country have collapsed and died suddenly, including high school senior Jordan Brister and high school sophomore Ashari Hughes.
Scroll down to leave a comment and share your thoughts.