COVID-19 vaccine safety in Canada

This page provides information about any adverse events following immunization that individuals have reported after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in Canada. Even though an adverse event is reported, it is not necessarily related to the vaccine. We update this page every Friday at 12:00 PM Eastern Time.

The data compiled (website accessed Monday, Feb 15, 2021) is “up to and including February 5, 2021.”

Since last update: 171 new “adverse event following immunization” reports, 31 “serious.”
651 total adverse event reports since COVID-19 vaccination began, 99 “serious.”
Total doses administered: 1,042,171.

Figure 1 text description week by week shows the following numbers of “serious adverse event reports” received:
January 1: 5
January 8: 5
January 15: 17
January 22: 28
January 28: 13
February 5: 31
(Total: 99)

To date, adverse event reports have mostly been recieved (sic) for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, which was the first to be authorized and administered in Canada (Figure 2). Although the number of doses administered is not available by vaccine name, 928,200 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 517,700 doses of Moderna have been distributed within Canada.

Figure 2 text description:
Pfizer-BioNTech: 371 total adverse event reports, 74 serious.
Moderna: 280 total adverse event reports, 25 serious.
(Total: 651, Total serious: 99)

The 651 individual adverse event reports represent 651 people who reported one or more adverse events.

Among the 99 serious adverse event reports, the most frequently reported adverse event was anaphylaxis.

https://www.webmd.com/allergies/anaphylaxis:

Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that needs to be treated right away. . . .

These were the most common events reported by the 651 people:
Figure 4 text description. Most frequently reported adverse events up to and including February 5, 2021 (n=1,568):

Vaccination site pain 236
Vaccination site erythema (redness) 190
Vaccination site swelling 141
Vaccination site warmth 127
Vaccination site pruritus (itching) 81
Paraesthesia (tingling or prickling) 80
Pruritus (itching) 76
Headache 68
Urticaria (hives) 63
Vaccination site reaction 62
Nausea 61
Vaccination site cellulitis 60
Vaccination site induration (hardening) 52
Dyspnoea (laboured breathing) 51
Rash 50
Vaccination site rash 49
Fatigue 48
Hypoaesthesia (numbness) 44
Anaphylaxis 29

A total of six adverse event reports identified deaths that occurred after the administration of a vaccine. Following medical case review, it has been determined that these deaths are not linked to a COVID-19 vaccine.

Does that mean the list of adverse events has been edited? The deaths were removed based on what reasoning? Maybe we should know the specifics.

Quoting a few more points:

The data presented in this report are estimates and may not accurately represent national COVID-19 vaccine adverse events for the following reasons:

1. There may be delays in receiving reporting forms. These delays may be due to jurisdictions investigating and reviewing each adverse event prior to submitting the information to PHAC. There are also limitations to reporting practices such as underreporting, missing information, and differing adverse event reporting practices accross (sic) jurisdictions in Canada.

2. Information is collected on individuals for whom an adverse event report was submitted, not on the total number of individuals who experience an adverse event as not every adverse event is reported.

3. New information contained in this report may not be comprehensive but rather represents preliminary results of data received on a weekly basis.

6. The data presented in this report represent combined numbers from both CAEFISS and the Canada Vigilance program. Canada Vigilance receives adverse event reports directly from vaccine manufacturers, healthcare professionals and consumers. CAEFISS receives adverse event reports from regional public health authorities. ….

I have included some broader and also more detailed information on the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines here.

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