[FALSE] Does the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine cause blindness?

Screenshot of the misleading Facebook comment.

The Claim and Our Verdict

• The claim: A Facebook page claims in a comment that quite a few cases of blindness have been reported in the United Kingdom following the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, implying that the vaccine causes blindness.
• Fact-checking:
  • The claim is based on a report published by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The report is compiled from the data gathered through the Yellow Card scheme, which is run by MHRA for collecting and monitoring information about suspected adverse reactions to medicines or vaccines, or incidents related to the use of medical devices. Any health professionals or members of the public can report suspected side effects or medical device incidents through the scheme.
  • Reports of suspected adverse reactions through the scheme cannot be regarded as proven adverse reactions to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine but only suspicions.
  • According to our test, anyone can report suspected adverse drug reactions through the scheme without providing any proofs of vaccination or medical certificates. Therefore, the suspected adverse reactions in the reports can be underlying or previously undiagnosed illness unrelated to vaccination. It does not necessarily mean that they were caused by the vaccine.
• Our ruling: Therefore, we rate the claim as FALSE.

News Brief

The Facebook page “Bio Sciences (敗傲籮即高 嘥仁時)” published a post about the adverse effects of the COVID-19 vaccines on June 5, 2021. The page admin responded to a comment on the post, claiming that quite a few cases of blindness had been reported in the U.K. following vaccination of Pfizer COVID-19 jabs (Pfizer vaccine), implying that the vaccine caused blindness.

Often publishing anti-vaccine information, the Facebook page claims itself a “pseudo-biology” website, aiming to mislead the public through disseminating information about pseudo-biology.

Fact-checking

After fact-checking, the claim is based on a report published weekly by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The report is compiled from the data collected through the Yellow Card scheme. According to the report updated on June 3, 2021, there were 236 suspected cases with symptoms of visual impairment and blindness (except for colour blindness) reported between December 9, 2020 and June 3, 2021. Among them, 55 cases were related to blindness, including blindness transient and blindness unilateral.

Screenshot of the analysis report on Pfizer vaccine

The Yellow Card scheme is established to collect and monitor information about suspected adverse reactions to medicines or vaccines, or incidents related to the use of medical devices. Any health professionals or members of the public can report suspected side effects or medical device incidents through the scheme, according to the scheme website.

“Many suspected ADRs (Adverse Drug Reactions) reported on a Yellow Card do not have any relation to the vaccine or medicine and it is often coincidental that they both occurred around the same time,” MHRA says. Therefore, the reports to the scheme cannot be regarded as proven adverse reactions to the Pfizer vaccine but only suspicions that can be coincidental.

We have attempted to submit a report through the Yellow Card scheme from Hong Kong. In the process of submission, we have not been requested to provide a proof of identity or the COVID-19 vaccination record. In the third step of the submission process, we have selected “blindness” as the suspected reaction and submitted it successfully. Our test shows that anyone can report adverse drug reactions to the vaccine through the scheme no matter whether he/she is vaccinated. The test also shows that one can submit a report even if he/she has not experienced any adverse reactions. The data in the report are, therefore, only unproven spontaneous reports from the public and does not necessarily mean that they are caused by the vaccine.

The claim is misleading because of missing context. The cases recorded by the Yellow Card scheme would have occurred irrespective of vaccination.