Publisher Health

On 15 December 2021 Larry Lowe’s life changed.

He was 54, rarely ill, fit, healthy and running 10km most days – until he got the Pfizer Covid booster.

Within days he developed numbness in the right side of his face and started experiencing pain.

“I had lost all the feeling in my face, teeth, nose, tongue, eye, that whole side of my head,” he said.

These symptoms have spread through his body and intensified over the years, with doctors across the UK saying the vaccine is to blame.

Pfizer said patient safety was paramount and it took reports of adverse reactions very seriously.

It said hundreds of millions of doses had been administered globally “and the benefit-risk profile of the vaccine remains positive for all authorised indications and age groups”.

Mr Lowe said that while he was not opposed to vaccines, his life had been destroyed.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) said the benefits of the vaccines in preventing Covid-19 and serious complications associated with it far outweighed any currently known side effects in the majority of patients.

Mr Lowe was referred to Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London where he was told the vaccine “was being recognized by my body as a toxin, and that was the cause of my problems”.

He broke down and cried.

“My wife and I were sitting in this little room in Westminster with consultants telling me the vaccine had destroyed the nerve on the right side of my face, and it was highly unlikely that I would ever recover from it,” he said.

In letters, seen by BBC News NI, London pain management specialists confirmed the onset of symptoms could be attributed to the Covid vaccine booster.

In correspondence to Mr Lowe’s GP last May, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust confirmed that “our multidisciplinary team were in agreement that the onset of symptoms could be attributed to the Covid vaccine booster”.

In April 2024, Mr Lowe was diagnosed by a consultant neurologist at the Southern Health Trust with a “painful trigeminal neuropathy” which had “the Covid vaccine as its main causative factor”.

He also developed a small fibre sensory neuropathy which the consultant said “is also one of the post-vaccine related neurological presentations”.

“I struggle when I think about what another 10 years is going to do to me, because in the three years roughly that I’ve had this, it’s destroyed me and it’s getting worse,” Mr Lowe said.

Mr Lowe, from Omagh, said the small fibre neuropathy affected his entire body, from toes to fingertips.

He suffers from dry eye syndrome and wears sunglasses inside and out because of his sensitivity to light.

“I feel as if there is a clamp on both sides of my head, squeezing it all the time,” he said.

“I’ve been told that my condition is progressive. It is going to get worse.

“I didn’t ask for this,” he said.

He said he took the vaccine in good faith and feels he has been “left to rot”.

“I’m in so much pain, my life is barely worth living, except for my family,” he said.

He said he did not feel like himself anymore.

“Before this I was in a rock band, lead guitar, singing, writing songs, recording albums, loving it,” he told BBC News NI.

“Now that’s just a memory,” he added.

The former college lecturer had to medically retire.

He said chronic pain was hard to explain because people think of a “toothache or breaking their leg”.

“Once you break your leg, it starts to get better.

“My pain is getting worse every day.”

Mr Lowe praised all the medical professionals he had seen, who he said “tried everything” to help him but all they could offer was medication.

He said his GP was “fantastic,” but that he “doesn’t have the magic wand that I need”.

Mr Lowe said he would like the stigma taken out of Covid vaccine injuries.

He said many people do not take them seriously.

Mr Lowe said he had never been opposed to vaccinations which were tried and tested.

He added that he was not allowed to take any further vaccines.

Professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Martin McKee, said vaccines had been “absolutely essential” to allowing society to move on from the pandemic.

“Once the vaccines became available then the death rate fell markedly,” he said.

Prof McKee said all vaccines came with a risk of reactions and there would be “a small number of reactions” when a large number of people were vaccinated.

While he cannot comment on individual cases, he said reactions like Mr Lowe’s were “exceedingly rare”.

Mr Lowe said he had exhausted all the medication and treatments available in the UK and they did not work and he wants “medical and psychological help”.

“I want someone to recognize that the vaccine has done this.”

His wife Gini said life had been extremely tough.

She said they had a “fantastic, normal life” to a world that had been turned upside down.

She said Larry cries and screams at night with the pain.

“We have lost part of Larry and that’s hard to take,” she added.

Dr Louise Herron, deputy director of public health at the PHA said all vaccinations and medications could have some side effects.

“The most common side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine are mild and get better within a week,” she said.

“As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of Covid-19 vaccines is being continually monitored.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for regulating medicines, including vaccines, and conducts robust safety monitoring and surveillance of all Covid-19 vaccines in the UK.

It said vaccination was the single most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from Covid-19.