Woman unrecognisable after vaccine horror

A woman claims she was left temporarily blind with agonising purple bruises spreading across her face after having three vaccines at once.

A woman claims she was left temporarily blind with agonising purple bruises spreading across her face after having three vaccines at once.

Alexis Lorenze, 23, suffered a rare reaction to the jabs after travelling to receive treatment for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH), a genetic blood disorder.

The Florida-native was diagnosed with PNH - which causes the immune system to attack and damage red blood cells and platelets - in January this year.

Alexis travelled to California earlier this month for a transfusion to replenish the damaged cells, The US Sun reported.

Alexis Lorenze, 23, suffered a rare reaction after having three vaccines at once. Doctors believe the reaction was likely exacerbated by her blood disorder. Picture: Facebook

The 23-year-old claims doctors at the medical centre wouldn’t administer the transfusion unless she received vaccines for tetanus, pneumonia, and meningitis “all at once”.

It’s not clear why hospital staff allegedly wanted to give her all three vaccines immediately.

Nor is it clear how soon after the vaccines they intended to perform the transfusion.

In videos posted to TikTok and Facebook that have since gone viral, Alexis claims her vision temporarily went dark in both eyes within 10 minutes of being given the three jabs.

Her jaw locked and she began vomiting while her eyes and forehead also started to swell and darken, with splotchy “red dots” on her face, neck and chest.

“This is the scariest thing I’ve ever been through,” tearful Alexis said in a Facebook Live video she’s since posted to her page.

Alexis’s condition gradually worsened to the point that her eyes swelled shut and deep purple bruising spread across her forehead, neck and knees.

Her ordeal has since been seized upon by anti-vaxxers, who claim her reaction proves their theories about vaccines being dangerous.

But medics stress that Alexis suffered an ultra-rare reaction that was likely exacerbated by her blood disorder.

The 23-year-old claims doctors told her she needed the vaccines before they could administer a blood transfusion. Picture: Facebook

She was left temporarily blind with agonising purple bruises spreading across her face. Picture: Facebook

Doctors told DailyMail.com that giving a patient so many vaccines at once when they have an autoimmune condition like PNH is “risky”, as it could trigger a potentially “life-threatening” immune response.

But they noted it’s unlikely that components in the vaccines themselves lead to Alexis’s condition.

Instead, it’s more likely her illness wasn’t under control and flared up in response to the jabs, as they can trigger immune responses in patients with PNH.

Dr Raj Dasgupta, chief medical advisor for Fortune Recommends Health, told DailyMail.com: “While it’s usually safe for most people to get these vaccines together, in her case, the immune response could have been too much and led to complications.

“To avoid overloading her system, it would be reasonable to space out the vaccines and closely monitor for any worsening symptoms.”

Over the last few days, Alexis’s father Todd joined her in California and has posted regular updates about her condition.

He said she had been transported to a private hospital in Los Angeles for specialised treatment.

In a recent Facebook post, Todd said Alexis’s condition “varies from hour to hour, sometimes minute to minute”.

Though the swelling and pain seemed to be decreasing, the dad said: “It’s not over. It’s just slightly less complicated.

“But still going a months or years long battle.

“This has devastated her. We are not out of any hot water yet.”

A fundraiser has been set up to pay for her medical expenses details.

Doctors believe her illness wasn’t under control and flared up in response to the jabs

‘Risky business’

Alexis was diagnosed with PNH in January 2024.

The rare blood disorder affects about between 0.5 and 1.5 per million people, according to the National Organisation for Rare Disorders.

Alexis claims she developed the illness after being prescribed “cough medicine” by a doctor - but in fact the disorder occurs due to how a genetic flaw affects how your red blood cells and platelets work.

Normally, red blood cells help carry oxygen from the lungs to other parts of the body using the protein haemoglobin.

But in patients with PNH, haemoglobin can’t break down, so the protein overwhelms organs like the kidneys.

People with the condition are also at an increased risk of life-threatening thrombosis or blood clots as their platelets - the cells that help the body make blood clots - are abnormal.

Alexis also claims to have not received any vaccines since childhood.

Dr Gloria Gerber, a haematologist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told DailyMail.com that it’s possible that the three vaccines could have exacerbated Alexis’s PNH by accelerating the breakdown of red blood cells.

She explained that giving many vaccines or medications at once is “risky business” in the event that a patient reacts to them, as it can be difficult to confirm which one was the culprit behind it.

“Giving three vaccines at once, honestly, I don’t think I’ve heard of at all,” the haematologist said.

“What’s the hurry? What’s the emergency of giving the three vaccines at once when you could do one and wait a little bit?

“She’s obviously very sensitive because of her illness.

“Doing multiple things at the same time is very risky business, and risky business has no place in medicine.”

Alexis’ father has provided regular updates about her condition. Picture: Facebook

Meanwhile, Dr Gasgupta said that Alexis’s severe reaction may have nothing to do with the vaccines at all.

“PNH can flare up on its own, and we have to consider whether the condition itself is behind her severe reaction.

Alexis claims she temporarily went blind immediately after the vaccines were administered.

Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told DailyMail.com that this might be able to be explained by a drop in blood pressure.

He said some people feel faint after being given a vaccine and that “near fainting can often cause momentary visual loss”.

But he stressed that “there’s nothing intrinsic in the vaccine that causes blindness”.

This story first appeared in The US Sun and has been reproduced with permission