By:\u00a0Melissa Blasius, May 24, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preexisting health conditions found to be a risk factor for developing vaccine-related tinnitus or hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A newly published scientific study about the COVID-19 vaccine found people with certain preexisting medical conditions were more likely to report ringing in the ears after getting immunized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A newly published scientific study about the COVID-19 vaccine found people with certain preexisting medical conditions were more likely to report ringing in the ears after getting immunized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The authors of the study about these “risk factors” include Dr. Shaowen Bao, a University of Arizona professor, and Robert Edmonds, a COVID-19 vaccine patient from New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult when you have a very sudden event, and you’re trying to get answers, and there isn’t any,\u201d Edmonds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three years ago, Edmonds began a quest for health answers when he developed ringing in the ears shortly after getting his first COVID-19 vaccine shot in January 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s like the static of an old TV in the background,\u201d Edmonds said. \u201cBut 10 times louder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ABC15 spent years tracking the concerns of thousands of people<\/a> who reported they had ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, vertigo or hearing loss after getting the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Back then, tinnitus was not listed by the CDC or FDA as a potential side effect of any of COVID-19 vaccines. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine<\/a>, which is no longer being used in the United States, later changed its labeling to include tinnitus as a potential side effect.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Edmonds felt public health leaders were not taking the tinnitus concerns seriously enough, so he turned to ABC15 with his story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou guys were really the first to kind of help with that,\u201d Edmonds told ABC15 Senior Investigator Melissa Blasius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ABC15 found more people across the country who also connected the onset of their tinnitus or hearing loss<\/a> to the time they received a COVID-19 shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The risk is small, but it seems to me that it is there,” said University of Arizona Assistant Professor Shaowen Bao. He is also a member of the scientific advisory committee for the American Tinnitus Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n