California Gov. Gavin Newsom's absence from public events since early November has made netizens come up with strange speculation. The latest among them is that Newsom experienced partial facial paralysis from a Covid-19 vaccination booster shot. However, there is no truth in the claim. He is absolutely fine and his absence was because of completely personal reasons.
The weird claim started doing the rounds after Newsom cancelled a scheduled trip to Scotland for a United Nations climate conference, citing "family obligations."Following that he didn't appear in public for a few days, which gave the opportunity to many social media users to start making this claim.
Newsom is Fine
Newsom's absence was being interpreted in different ways. One prominent version was that he experienced a serious adverse reaction to getting a COVID-19 vaccination booster shot in late October 2021. The claim started doing the rounds in early November.
This left many confused as Newsom was not attending public events at that time, which made many believe that he was seriously unwell. However, the origin of the claim was a Tweet by a user that read: "Gavin Newsom is out of sight since getting his booster because he developed Bell's Palsy or Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)." This was in reference to the side-effects of taking the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Tweet was immediately picked up by some rumor mongers. Soon a doctored video was posted that was manipulated to look like the left side of Newsom's face was drooping.
This further added fuel to the fire and many started believing in the claim.
The Truth
Fact is that Newsom is fine and he didn't suffer any partial paralysis of his face. The image that accompanied the manipulated video shows a distorted face of Newsom but that is a nothing but a very shoddily done photoshop job. The original photo appears on his website and he looks completely fine in it.
Actually, the claim started doing the rounds after Newsom abruptly canceled a trip to Scotland for a United Nations climate conference, citing "family obligations." He then didn't hold any scheduled public events for about two weeks. Rumor mills took opportunity of this absence but it was completely due to personal reasons.
In fact, Newsom was seen earlier this week and there too he looked fine. Also, Newsom himself explained later that he canceled the Scotland trip to be with his children on Halloween. He also stated he had been out and about with his family and working at the Capitol during that time.
That said, the claim that Newsom suffered partial facial paralysis started raising doubt about his health after a Daily Mail article citing unnamed "sources in the family's inner circle" came up with a slightly less extreme claim that Newsom experienced "muscle weakness and fatigue" after getting both a Moderna the Covid-19 booster shot and the flu shot.
However, even if had experienced that it is normal. Side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines include tiredness and muscle pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Later, Daniel Lopez, Newsom's spokesman, told the Daily Mail the opposite. He was quoted as saying, "The flu shot and booster shot were administered separately, and the Governor did not have an adverse reaction to either shot."
This thus makes it clear that Newsom didn't suffer from any adverse effect of the Covid-19 vaccine booster shot and was absent from public events just because of family engagements. Thus the claim is completely baseless and false.
