STORY UPDATED: check for updates below.
Does a video on social media show a woman named Alexis Lorenze suffering a typical reaction to DTaP, meningitis and pneumonia vaccines? No, that's not true: An expert contacted by Lead Stories said he has "seen this many times" in patients diagnosed with the same rare blood disorder Lorenze claims to have. Another expert stated that Lorenze's physical response to the vaccines is "definitely not a typical vaccine reaction."
The claim appeared in a post and video (archived here) on X, formerly Twitter, by Ben Tapper, who is a chiropractor. The video featured a title graphic that said, "I feel like my head is going to explode." The video's caption said:
This poor girl is fighting for her life after an adverse reaction to the Dtap, meningitis, and a pneumonia vaccine. Right now, you are not allowed to mention her name on Instagram. How evil!!!!! Share her story and pray for this young girl.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Wed Sep 18 16:02:02 2024 UTC)
In the post, Tapper provided no evidence to support his assertion that the 23-year-old woman (archived here) in the video suffered an "adverse reaction" to the DTaP (diptheria, tetanus and acceularl petussis), meningitis and pneumonia vaccines. Tapper is not a medical doctor with a vaccinology or dermatology certification.
In 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate (archived here) named him to their "Disinformation Dozen," a list of 12 people it said are "responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content." On page 35 of the Center's report, it says:
Ben Tapper is a chiropractor with a growing following on social media. He has routinely posted COVID disinformation and spoken out against masking.
Alexis Lorenze
In a 43-minute Facebook Live video (archived here) posted to her account on September 14, 2024, Lorenze said she was hospitalized for the treatment of a rare blood disorder known as PNH (paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria), with which she was diagnosed in January 2024. PNH causes red blood cells to break apart prematurely.
PNH affects an estimated one to five people per million, according to MedlinePlus, a website of the National Library of Medicine.
Lorenze said in the video that her symptoms first began appearing "10 minutes after the vaccine." She later stated she had been given separate shots for meningitis, pneumonia and tetanus (DTaP). Around the 1:40 mark in the video, Lorenze said:
They gave me a vaccine and I started having these symptoms and reacting extremely bad. I went blind in both eyes and my throat had a lump on it. I had nose bleeds. I was throwing up a bunch and they're trying to tell me it's not from the vaccine when clearly it is.
The blindness was temporary; Lorenze later said "it's hard to see."
Lead Stories has no independent confirmation of her condition or its causes. The University of California, Irvine Medical Center, where Lorenze was hospitalized starting on September 10, 2024, did not respond to questions regarding her care and condition. Federal law protects the privacy and security of a patient's health information.
PNH can cause abnormal blood clotting, or thrombosis, which can be life-threatening.
Experts
In a September 23, 2024, email to Lead Stories, Dr. Robert Brodsky, a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the school's Division of Hematology, said he's "seen this many times" in people diagnosed with PNH.
Yes, vaccines can trigger thrombosis in PNH. This could be dermal vein thrombosis. ... So yes, it is partly related to the vaccine but only because it is in the setting of PNH
The online database eMedicine (archived here) says this about dermal vein thrombosis, which are tiny blood clots in the skin:
Dermal vein thrombosis manifests as raised, painful, red nodules in the skin affecting large areas, such as the entire back, which subsides within a few weeks, usually without necrosis. In cases that do result in necrosis, skin grafting may be necessary.
Dr. Jennifer Adams, interim chair of the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Department of Dermatology, told Lead Stories in a September 19, 2024, email that what she observed in the social media video was "Definitely not a typical vaccine reaction." She continued:
From a dermatology standpoint, I can just tell you there is clearly a lot of bleeding going on under the surface of the skin (which gravity pulls down to the space under the eyes making it puffy). This is not a skin reaction but rather a bleeding disorder. It seems she has an underlying blood disorder called Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
In emails on September 24-25, 2024, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated it did not want to comment on this specific case because it was unaware of the patient's medical history and had not evaluated her. However, in a statement, the CDC provided these general observations:
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare condition, and patients with this condition should be evaluated by a specialist in hematology.
Dermal vein thrombosis is not a typical reaction to vaccines. CDC has received no reports of dermal vein thrombosis after any vaccine in the CDC's vaccine safety surveillance system.
Chiropractor
Ben Tapper, who declared the patient's condition was caused by vaccination, is not a medical doctor, nor a vaccinology expert.
He is a graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa.
Read more
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about vaccines can be found here.
Updates:
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2024-09-25T18:24:53Z 2024-09-25T18:24:53Z Adds context from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
