Route links
- News
- Local news
- Local Health
- Health
FOI documents detail health officials responding to adverse reactions to COVID vaccines in early days of pandemic
Date Posted:
June 19, 2022 • 41 minutes ago • 4 minutes of reading • Join the conversation A nurse inoculates a man with a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine on February 15, 2022. Photo by ALFREDO STAR / AFP / Getty Images
Content of the article
As British Colombians began vaccinating against COVID-19 in December 2020 and the first half of 2021, health officials were behind the scenes, closely monitoring the serious side effects of the shootings, according to documents recently published under the Freedom of Information Act. .
Announcement 2
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
While the 42 pages published contain few examples of serious reactions, those that were flagged provoked immediate responses from health leaders who monitored the millions of Canadians receiving the new vaccines.
An email from June 7, 2021 to Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC Provincial Health Officer, revealed that a person in the Home Health region suffered a “severe stroke” after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, which was consider it an “adverse reaction” to the shot.
“BC doctors … agree that the vaccine was the catalyst for his stroke. We can’t change that to (wording), but investigating this could prevent anyone else from suffering the same outcome,” the email said. . The sender’s name has been deleted.
Announcement 3
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Henry asked officials to follow up, but Interior Health’s detailed response was also deleted from the FOI documents, so it’s hard to know if it was an isolated case. The Journal of the American Medical Association, however, published a study in November 2021 that showed no increase in the prevalence of stroke after vaccinations.
After COVID-19 vaccines first arrived in BC in mid-December 2020, initial doses were given to front-line health workers and long-term care home employees. The next to receive shots during the first months of 2021 were the elderly and the elderly, followed by the first leaders, teachers, child care staff and other workers considered essential.
In early June 2021, Kelowna-Lake Country MP Norm Letnick received an email from a voter raising concerns about a man who developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome and Bell’s palsy shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. The patient was discharged from the hospital in a wheelchair and it was estimated that his recovery would take up to a year, according to the email.
Announcement 4
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
“It’s really heartbreaking to see this (man) totally disabled so quickly for this vaccine,” the woman wrote to Letnick.
The email was forwarded to Henry, who said Guillain-Barré is more often associated with an infection, “but has been associated with vaccination.” He said the BC Center for Disease Control was alerted and the case was under investigation.
Health Canada says “there are a small number of reports of people who have developed this rare disorder (Guillain-Barré)” after taking the AZ and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry. Photo of Don Craig / BC Government / File
On May 18, 2021, a woman from Vancouver Island sent an email to Henry telling him that she had been diagnosed with blood clots in her lungs a week after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. He said he had been prescribed medication, but was faced with a long wait to see a blood specialist and hoped Henry could help speed up his appointment.
Announcement 5
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
He also hoped Henry would “investigate further into why my first vaccine resulted in blood clots in my lungs and add these findings to ongoing research.”
The BC Center for Disease Control website says “rare cases of severe blood clots” have been reported after people received the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines, but does not mention Pfizer.
On March 25, 2021, a disease control epidemiologist emailed Henry with major concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine, including higher deaths, young age of patients, and “excess” risks.
“I urge decision-makers to review this information as soon as possible to consider whether to stop using AZ / Covishield until further research is completed,” wrote Dr. Eleni Galanis.
Announcement 6
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
A few days later, the vaccine was stopped for people under the age of 55 because of concerns that it could be related to rare blood clots, but it continued to be given to people over the age of 55. Later that spring, it was no longer recommended that it be used as a second dose for any age group.
An indigenous man from Northern Health, who had an anaphylactic reaction to his vaccine in December 2020, was one of the various allergy concerns raised at the FOI.
On March 11, 2021, Dr. Monika Naus of the Centers for Disease Control told Henry in an email that BC reported anaphylaxis rates linked to vaccines higher than the Canadian and U.S. averages.
A January 17, 2021 email from the Public Health Agency of Canada reported the death of a prisoner in a BC prison after receiving the dose of Moderna, although the Correctional Service of Canada “no he considered the death to be related to the vaccine. “
Announcement 7
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Content of the article
Henry responded that he has been working with his counterparts across Canada on how to report deaths that occur shortly after a vaccine, even if the vaccine was not the cause, as vulnerable populations were receiving first injections.
It was impossible to determine the accuracy of all the concerns raised at the FOI. For example, the documents included an email from Dr. Charles Hoffe saying that his patients in the Lytton area suffered harmful effects after being vaccinated.
The BC College of Physicians and Surgeons, however, would later allege that Hoffe had made “misleading, incorrect or inflammatory” statements about COVID, including that vaccinations cause “microscopic blood clots that cause severe neurological damage.” female infertility and a large number of deaths “. . ”
lculbert@postmedia.com
Share this article on your social network
Announcement 1
This ad has not yet been uploaded, but your article continues below.
Sign up for daily news from the headlines of Vancouver Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.
By clicking the sign up button, you agree to receive the previous Postmedia Network Inc. newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300
Thanks for signing up!
A welcome email is on its way. If you don’t see it, check your unwanted folder.
The next issue of Vancouver Sun Headline News will be in your inbox soon.
We encountered a problem registering you. Please try again
Comments
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil discussion forum and encouraging all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments can take up to an hour to moderate before appearing on the site. We urge you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We’ve enabled email notifications – you will now receive an email if you receive a response to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you are following, or if a user is still commenting. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.