Government of Canada Vigilance adverse reaction database – results for COVID vaccines
The following is a different source of data than health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccine-safety, which is more up to date and may be more comprehensive.
MedEffect Canada
https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada.html
MedEffect Canada provides consumers, patients, and health professionals with easy access to:
There is a link to this page: Canada Vigilance Program: www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/canada-vigilance-program.html
This includes Online Reporting to the Canada Vigilance Program: hpr-rps.hres.ca/side-effects-reporting-form.php?form=voluntary&lang=en
and
Search the Canada Vigilance Online Database: www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-database.html
To view the data, I did the following:
Go to Canada Vigilance adverse reaction online database: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-database.html
Note that it says: “This database includes data from 1965 to 2022-03-31” so it only goes to March.
Click “Search the Adverse Reaction Database”: www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-database/medeffect-canada-caveat-privacy-statement-interpretation-data-search-canada-vigilance-adverse-reaction-online-database.html
Note that the Terms of Use page includes this point:
There is under reporting of adverse reactions with both voluntary and mandatory surveillance systems.
Scroll down through the Terms of Use and either click “Search the Adverse Reaction Database”: https://cvp-pcv.hc-sc.gc.ca/arq-rei/index-eng.jsp
OR
“Download the Data Extract File”: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-database/canada-vigilance-online-database-data-extract.html
The second is probably necessary for effective analysis, but let’s start with the first: Search the Adverse Reaction Database: https://cvp-pcv.hc-sc.gc.ca/arq-rei/index-eng.jsp
Section 1: Leave the fields as they are.
Section 2: Leave the fields as they are.
Section 3: In the Keyword Search field, enter “COVID” and click “Find Health Products.”
Click “Select All Below” to select all the COVID vaccine products. This way you see both the official and unofficial names reported.
Section 4: Leave the fields as they are.
Click “Search”
Leave as “Standard View” (other option is “Custom View”) and click “Continue.”
Then you can view the results. This generates 3203 adverse action reports (I mentioned that the other Canadian government page may include more reports than this).
It’s not very flexible at this point (you are limited in what you can export), so to get more information, it would be best to go back and “Download the Data Extract File” as I mentioned above.
Specific search: click “Modify Search Criteria”
Section 3 still has all the COVID vaccine products.
Change Section 2: Set Report Outcome field to “Fatal”
Other sections are the same.
Click “Search” and “Continue”
This generates 70 adverse reaction reports.
Click “Modify Search Criteria”
Change Section 2: Set Report Outcome back to “Select All”
Change Section 4: Select “By Adverse Reaction Term”
Enter “death” in Keyword Search field. Click “Find Terms.”
Select “Death” in drop-down list.
Click “Search” and “Continue”
This generates 14 results instead of 70 (for whatever reason, the “fatal” reports don’t all use the word “death” or maybe I should select all the drop-down terms).
Click “Modify Search Criteria”
Leave everything the same except in Section 4, enter “abortion” in the Keyword Search field and select “Abortion spontaneous” in the drop-down list.
Click Search and Continue
This generates 17 adverse action reports of spontaneous abortions.