I heard recently that facial paralysis is a relatively common reaction to the flu vaccine too. This study indicates that the paralysis is more commonly reported after the flu shot but they could not determine that the flu vaccine causes more paralysis than other vaccines.
“A large number of cases of facial paralysis have been reported following influenza vaccination; most of these cases occur within the first 2 weeks following vaccination with the seasonal trivalent or quadrivalent intramuscular influenza vaccine. The risk of reporting of facial paralysis following influenza vaccination seems to be higher compared with that following the administration of other vaccines. Considering the inherent limitations of the VAERS database analysis and the fact that disproportionality measures only indicate the presence of a signal, our study findings need to be explored in well-designed prospective pharmacoepidemiologic studies.”