The top doctor in Interior Health says there are concerns if people continue to spread false information when it comes to the safety of COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Albert de Villiers was asked with the health authority can do to ensure that people are getting the right information.
“In certain situations, we’ll go connect with them and ensure ‘why did you share the information and do you know what the intent was?’ Then, we also consider in a specific community in a specific area, we can do a specific media blitz or talk to the local officials about helping to reestablish the science,” he said.
There have been concerns raised by a Lytton doctor who claimed that the death of a 72-year-old man in that community was linked to the Moderna vaccine.
In a letter to Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, Dr. Charles Hoffe says the man had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and passed away 24 days after he was was vaccinated.
He also claimed there had been “numerous” allergic reactions – including two cases of anaphylaxis – while three other people in the Lytton area were reportedly exhibiting “ongoing and disabling neurological deficits” after they were vaccinated, though Hoffe did not provide evidence that proved any of the adverse events were linked to the vaccine.
According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, there have been 1.35-million doses of a vaccine administered in B.C. as of April 17. There have been 727 reports of adverse reactions – 0.0005 per cent of the total – with 37 cases meeting the definition of a serious adverse event.
The BC CDC notes the most frequently reported events are allergy-related as well as pain, swelling, or redness at the site of the injection.
De Villiers says for the most part, most people are willing to get a dose of the COVID vaccine, with Interior Health noting that the vaccines are safe and effective, and safer than actually contracting COVID-19 itself.
“As far vaccine goes, there’s always the majority of the population will definitely take the vaccine because they understand the science. Then there’s the very very small minority that will never ever take a vaccine. We won’t force them,” he added.
“But then there’s the group in between – 10 to 15 per cent sometimes – that’s hesitant, and if people make up things basically that’s unscientific, that’s the group we specifically want to get to.”
As it stands, all adults over the age of 40 are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in the province. People between 40 and 65 years of age are eligible for the AstraZeneca vaccine, while people 60 and older are either booking COVID vaccines as part of the age based vaccine rollout, or they’ve already been vaccinated.
Anyone over the age of 18 though is able to register online for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment.
Interior Health also says that there are trained vaccinators at all immunizations clinics to monitor for any allergic and anaphylactic reactions, which they say can occur with any vaccine or medication.
“You only hear about the bad vaccine experiences, but if people have got experiences, to bring that out as well to make sure that people can see that there are more good experiences, and the majority of people that receive vaccines don’t get an complications,” de Villiers added.
“There might be one or two that get a headache or get an anaphylactic case – one in a few million – but in general people have got a very positive experience.”