By ARIJETA LAJKADecember 17, 2020 GMT
CLAIM: Photo shows Pfizer’s vaccine trial participants that developed facial paralysis.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. An image showing three people with facial paralysis is circulating online and is erroneously being connected to Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine trials, which documented four cases of Bell’s palsy among people who received the vaccine. The photo was actually taken from a 2019 online manuscript showing the spectrum of what facial palsy can look like.
ADVERTISEMENT
THE FACTS: Recent posts on social media falsely claimed an image of three people with facial paralysis were COVID-19 vaccine trial participants who had reported Bell’s palsy, a disorder that causes paralysis on one side of the face and is temporary for about 70 percent of people.