Reports of Eye Disorders Spike After COVID Shots

In 2021, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European drug monitoring system known as Vigibase, maintained by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC) in Sweden, received 19,916 reports of eye disorders following administration of COVID-19 shots. Vigibase had never recorded such a big spike in eye disorders until these biologics were introduced into the European market.¹

Eye Disorders Reported in Vigibase After COVID Shots

 Although Vigbase does not provide details of the patient’s adverse vaccine event experience, it does provide the name of the disorder.

The following are the eye disorders reported and the number of vaccinated patients who experienced a COVID shot related adverse event: eye pain (4,616), blurred vision (3,839), photophobia or light intolerance (1,808), visual impairment (1,625), eye swelling (1,162), ocular hyperaemia or red eyes (788), eye irritation (768), itchy eyes or eye pruritus (731), watery eyes or increased lacrimation (653), double vision or diplopia (559), eye strain or asthenopia (459), dry eye (400), swelling around the eye or periorbital swelling (366), swelling of eyelid (360), flashes of light in the field of vision or photopsia (358), blindness (303), eyelid oedema (298), eye or ocular discomfort (273), conjunctival hemorrhage or breakage of a small eye vessel (236), blepharospasm or abnormal contraction of an eye muscle (223), vitreous floaters (192), periorbital oedema (171), and eye hemorrhage (169).²

In the United Kingdom’s Yellow Card System, a national database of side effects or adverse reactions to drugs or vaccines, there were similar reports of vaccine induced eye disorders following COVID shots. These reports are reported to have occurred after administration of AstraZeneca/Oxford University’s Vaxzevria COVID vaccine and Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty mRNA COVID shot, but also included eight reports of eye disorders following Moderna/NIAID’s Spikevax mRNA COVID shot, of which 100,000 first doses had been administered by Apr. 21, 2021 in the United Kingdom.³

Post COVID Shot Eye Disorders Reported to VAERS

According to a 2024 report published in Ophthalmology, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the United States showed that in December 2022 there were 40,910 ophthalmic (relating to the eye) symptoms from 29,781 adverse event reports following administration of COVID shots.⁴

Another study published in 2022 in Vaccines found that between December 2020 and December 2021, 6,688 VAERS reports included ocular adverse effects after COVID shots. The researchers noted that 2,229 (33.3 percent) adverse events were classified as cases of eyelid swelling, ocular hyperemia and conjunctivitis, 1,785 (26.6 percent) as blurred vision and 1,322 (19.7 percent) as visual impairment.

Females accounted for 73.8 percent of COVID shot adverse event reports associated with eye disorders and those aged 40 to 59 years old had the most frequent eye-related adverse events. A large proportion of these adverse events reported to VAERS involving eye disorders were associated with Spikevax and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen’s Ad26.COV2.S COVID vaccine.⁵

Pilot Experienced Eye Disorders After Getting Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID Shot

VAERS provides details provided by the patients of the vaccine adverse event. A VAERS report (ID 1026783) that is viewable in the MedAlerts database describes the experience of a 33-year-old pilot from Mississippi who took Comirnaty and developed problems with his vision. He reported:

I noticed a headache in the very top of my head within an hour of getting the vaccine. I thought it was normal because everyone I know said they got a headache from it. Over the next few hours, the pain moved down the back of my neck and became a burning sensation at the bottom of my skull.

Two days after receiving the vaccine I flew my plane and immediately noticed something was wrong with me. I was having a very hard time focusing. Approximately two hours into my flying I felt sudden and extreme pressure in my head and nearly blacked out. I immediately landed and stopped flying. Two days later I tried flying again and the exact same thing happened again after 20 minutes. The burning in my neck intensified and was now accompanied by dizziness, nausea, disorientation, confusion, uncontrollable shaking, and tinkling in my toes and fingers.

 The male patient added:

 I immediately went to my hometown doctor and he diagnosed me with vertigo. He prescribed me meclizine on Friday 02/05/2021. I took the medicine as prescribed all weekend with no relief. Monday 02/08/2021 I made an appointment for that Wednesday at the Institute. During Wednesday 02/10/2021-02/11/2021 I had roughly 10-15 test performed on me including balance, eye and hearing test, CT scan, MRI, and measured my spinal fluid pressure.

 The physician determined on 02/11/2021 that I had an allergic reaction to the Pfizer COVID vaccine that severely increased the pressure in my spinal cord and brain stem. That pressure causes my vision problems and ultimately ruptured my left inner ear breaking off several crystals in the process. I cannot fly with this condition. I’m currently taking Diamox to reduce the pressure in my spinal cord and brain stem.⁶

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