Did Bruce Willis get aphasia seven days after receiving the second dose of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Bruce Willis Got Aphasia From COVID-19 Vaccine!
Almost immediately after news broke that Bruce Willis was retiring after his aphasia diagnosis, people started claiming that he got his aphasia from the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine!
Here are a few examples circulating on social media. Please head to the next section for the facts.
General Thomas McInerney : Actor Bruce Willis has sudden health condition issues. Vaccine strikes again?
Hmmm… Bruce Willis’ retirement…🤡🤡🙏🏻🙏🏻
Aphasia seven days after second dose of an mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine – PMC
Bruce Willis is stepping away from acting because of Aphasia. FYI Aphasia is one of the side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Truth : Bruce Willis Did NOT Get Aphasia From COVID-19 Vaccine!
It’s becoming a tradition for anti-vaccination activists to immediately blame a celebrity’s death or malady on the COVID-19 vaccine.
Yet again, these antivaxxers are wrong, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : No Evidence Bruce Willis’ Aphasia Was Caused By Vaccine
First, let me start by simply pointing out that there is ZERO EVIDENCE that Bruce Willis’ aphasia was caused by the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, or any vaccine for the matter.
The Willis family did not make that claim, stating simply that “Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities“.
Those making the claim are simply conjuring it out of thin air, without evidence.
Fact #2 : COVID-19 Vaccines Do Not Cause Aphasia
Aphasia is not a disease, but a symptom of damage to the part of the brain that handles speech and language.
There are many causes of aphasia, but the most common cause is a stroke (cerebrovascular accident) on the left side of the brain.
It is also commonly seen with severe head injury, a brain tumour or progressive neurological conditions like dementia.
However, COVID-19 vaccines do not cause aphasia, because they do NOT damage the brain.
Read more : Did Bob Saget Die From COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Dose?
Read more : Did Foo Fighters Drummer Taylor Hawkins Die From Vaccine?!
Fact #3 : No Evidence Willis Got His Second Dose Recently
The claim that he received his second dose just 7 days before his aphasia diagnosis does not appear to be backed by any evidence.
While Bruce has not revealed his vaccination status, he has been extremely prolific, participating in 15 films since 2021.
There is no vaccine mandate for actors, but producers can mandate vaccinations as a condition for participating in their movies.
As acting in at least some of these movies will require him to be fully-vaccinated, he was very likely fully-vaccinated since early 2021.
Fact #4 : Pfizer AESI List Are Not Side Effects
Many antivaxxers point out that aphasia is in the 9-page AESI list that they claim is evidence of side effects caused by the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The truth is – the “List of Adverse Events of Special Interest” is actually just a generic list of adverse events that Pfizer look for when vaccinated people send in their reports through VAERS or the Yellow Card systems.
These adverse events are NOT vaccine side effects, because they include COVID-19, other communicable diseases, as well as manufacturing and lab testing issues.
Even though Pfizer investigated all reported adverse events in the list, they found no new safety concerns / risks.
Read more : Why Adverse Events of Special Interest Are NOT Side Effects!
Fact #5 : mRNA Vaccine Did Not Cause Aphasia After 7 Days
Anti-vaccination activists are quoting a 2021 paper (Aphasia seven days after second dose of an mRNA based SARS-CoV-2 vaccine) as evidence that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines cause aphasia after 7 days.
It looks like they either did not read the paper, or they intentionally chose to mislead you on what it said.
The paper reported on a SINGLE case of a man who developed aphasia 7 days after receiving the second dose of his mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.
The cause of his aphasia was not the vaccine, but intracerebral bleeding. The man suffered a haemorrhagic stroke – a common cause of aphasia.
Not only is it just a single case, there is no evidence the mRNA vaccine caused the stroke, thereby leading to the aphasia.
The paper also noted that the man’s aphasia “resolved almost completely within a few days“.
Fact #6 : Millions Of People Develop Aphasia Every Year
Aphasia is not a new disorder. It is as old as mankind itself, affecting people long before COVID-19 vaccines were invented.
Globally, millions of people suffer from aphasia, with strokes alone responsible for 5 million new cases of aphasia every year.
Bruce Willis joins about a million other Americans who currently suffer from aphasia in the United States.
Fact #7 : Willis Had Cognitive Issues Long Before COVID-19 Vaccines
According to directors, producers and actors who worked with him, Bruce Willis, have come out to say that they noticed his cognitive issues since at least June 2020 – long before COVID-19 vaccines were approved, or made available.
During the production of the movie, Out of Death, director Mike Burns relayed instructions to his screenwriter to cut “about 5 pages” off Willis’ script in a June 2020 email, and realised why when he met Willis for the first time.
I could see it firsthand and I realized that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines.
Then in October 2021, Burns would meet Willis again on the set of Wrong Place. Despite being told that Willis was “way better” and “a whole different person”, he noted :
I didn’t think he was better; I thought he was worse. After we finished, I said: ‘I’m done. I’m not going to do any other Bruce Willis movies.’ I am relieved that he is taking time off.
Other industry insiders claimed that Willis began using an earpiece with another actor, Adam Huel Potter feeding him his lines.
Sometimes, Bruce Willis “looked so lost” and had difficulty understanding why he was on set. Once, he asked the crew on set :
I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?
Willis’ assistant Stephen J. Eads would advise filmmakers to finish shooting his scenes by lunch, and let him leave early.
All that happened in 2020 – long before the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved, and certainly long before COVID-19 vaccinations began.
Fact #8 : Willis Had Cognitive Issues Long Before COVID-19 Pandemic
Producer and writer, Joe Russo also stated that Bruce Willis had been suffering quietly (from aphasia) for years, including during the filming of his movie, Hard Kill, which was in production SIX WEEKS before the pandemic.
In fact, Bruce was already suffering from cognitive issues as far back as the movie, Glass – which was filmed from 2017-2018.
Bruce seemed a little confused at times and needed a little more help with his lines. This was the first time that I had heard anything about his health.
At that point it seemed that he was a little off. We thought it could be anything from aging to maybe even being a little drunk — common mistakes that people make when seeing the first signs of anything like dementia — to just not wanting to be there.
In reflection, Bruce may have been struggling with all of this back then.
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