(CMR) A local mother told CMR that her 20-year-old daughter, Jacqueline Aubert, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) last month after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. She shared in a statement to the press that her daughter's team of physicians were the ones to confirm the cause of it is the Pfizer vaccine. However, when the facility in Miami was contacted by CMR they issued a statement indicating that there is no known causal link.
Michele Aubert initially posted on her Facebook page that her daughter was diagnosed with the extremely rare condition autoimmune disorder around September 13 after first coming down with symptoms on Wednesday, September 8 after she took her second Pfizer shot on Tuesday morning.
Around 8:00 pm her mother explained that she started to feel ill with a racing heart, tingling feet, and severe pain in her sides. It was at that point she was taken to the HSA and they were unable to “figure out what was going on”. However, they gave her pain meds and sent her home. The following evening the family went to the Doctor's Hospital where they did a CT scan and observed a lot of inflammation around her gallbladder. They wanted to remove her gallbladder but the mother refused and eventually went to Miami with her on Saturday morning.
She left Cayman in a wheelchair unable to walk and was admitted to Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida where they ran a number of tests included a spinal tap. At around 2:00 am they placed her on the ICU ward and diagnosed her with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). She spent several days at that facility recovering with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) treatment.
It was there that Michele Aubert shared they recognized the seriousness of her illness and physicians confirmed the link between the vaccine. In her statement she shared that:
“Her symptoms began the next day and a spinal tap on day seven confirmed the GBS. Her team of doctors here in Florida has confirmed the vaccine caused the GBS.”
Her mother issued a statement on Friday afternoon sharing that:
“Jacqueline is doing very well and making great progress to a full recovery. We want to thank all the kind individuals who reached out and are praying for us. We will share further in due course.”
According to Aubert, her daughter was born prematurely, so she always consults with her specialist doctor before making any healthcare decisions. Jacqueline was encouraged to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine which she received in Grand Cayman the day before her symptoms began. She also shared that they indicated to her the case would be reported to the CDC.
Aubert is due to see the neurologist back at the hospital on Monday.
CMR reached out to Nicklaus Children's Hospital but they appeared to be unfamiliar with the case; which ironically could be one of the only known cases of GBS after a Pfizer vaccine. However, they issued a brief statement indicated that there is no known link between mRNA vaccines and GBS.
Dr. Marcos Mestre, Chief Medical Officer, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital said via email:
“Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an autoimmune polyneuropathy which could cause an ascending paralysis by affecting the motor and sensory nerves. The condition is very rare and typically occurs after an infection. The FDA has not seen an increased risk of GBS after the administration of mRNA COVID vaccines (Moderna or Pfizer). While there have been isolated reported cases of GBS after administration of mRNA vaccines, there has been no causal link determined.”
Ironically, the FDA has cleared patients who previously had GBS recovered patients as being safe to take the Pfizer vaccine after a large Israeli study.
When a person has Guillain-Barré syndrome, the immune system (the body's natural defenses) produces harmful antibodies that attack the nerves. IVIG is a treatment made from donated blood that contains healthy antibodies. GBS can cause symptoms that last for a few weeks to several years. Most people recover fully, but some have permanent nerve damage.
CMR spoke to both local and overseas medical experts and they indicated the timing of the onset of her diagnosis is peculiar and leads them to believe she would have had some sort of an infection prior to getting the vaccine she likely did not know she had.
One physician noted that the timing of GBS would be days if not weeks after. He shared that there's a causal link between people who have gastrointestinal issues and GBS. However, for her reaction to be with 24 hours of the vaccine appears to be a mere coincidence in time. He further explained that with autoimmune reactions they “take a while” to present themselves and this “timeline is too short”.
CMR also reached out to Dr. Claudia Espinosa, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of South Florida. She noted that there is no chance the vaccine would produce GBS in one day. Sharing:
“Perhaps if it were two weeks or more after, it would be something to investigate, but not any sooner. That's just not possible.”
The only vaccine associated with the onset of GBS has been the Johnson and Johnson vaccine according to a number of medical sources.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a warning that the single-dose vaccine is associated with an increased risk of developing Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disorder that attacks the body’s nerves.
Neurologist Kerry Levin, MD. recently shared that the likelihood of being diagnosed with GBS after receiving the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine is extremely small — about 0.0008%.
The FDA reports that 12.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered — about 8% of the population of fully vaccinated people in the United States.
As of July 13, 2021 (the day the FDA issued its warning), 100 cases of Guillain-Barré had been reported in individuals who received that vaccine. Of those cases, 95 were considered serious and required hospitalization; one case resulted in death.
The FDA is also careful to point out that although evidence suggests an association between the vaccine and an increased risk of GBS, that evidence is “insufficient to establish a causal relationship.”
In the U.S., an estimated 146 million fully vaccinated people have received either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines (both of which require two doses). To date, the FDA has not seen a statistical increase in GBS in patients who received the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines.
There was a case of an 82-year-old woman who presented with GBS after her Pfizer vaccine course. She had received a single dose and it was included in the CDC's VEARS reporting system. She received the first shot of the vaccine two weeks prior to the presentation of any symptoms.
In Israel, there was a study done of patients who previously had Guillain-Barré syndrome and whether those persons would have a relapse. Out of nearly 600 people previously diagnosed with GBS who got the vaccine, one needed brief medical care for relapse afterward, reported Shirley Shapiro Ben David, MD, of Maccabi Healthcare Services in Tel Aviv, and co-authors in JAMA Neurology.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare, autoimmune disorder in which a person’s own immune system damages the nerves, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. GBS can cause symptoms that last for a few weeks to several years. Most people recover fully, but some have permanent nerve damage. Some people have died of GBS.”
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), “GBS has also been observed at an increased rate associated with certain vaccines, including certain seasonal influenza vaccines and a vaccine to prevent shingles.
Although the available evidence suggests an association between the Janssen vaccine and increased risk of GBS, it is insufficient to establish a causal relationship. FDA continues to work with its partner in vaccine safety surveillance, the CDC, to monitor reports of GBS following vaccination with the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine. Importantly, the FDA has evaluated the available information for the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and continues to find the known and potential benefits clearly outweigh the known and potential risks.”
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