More than 1,000 New Brunswickers report adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines

More than 1,000 New Brunswickers have had an adverse reaction after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, and more than a quarter of them were considered "serious," according to the Department of Health.

A total of more than two million vaccines have been administered in the province, putting the incidence at roughly 0.06 per cent.

Spokesperson Adam Bowie did not provide any information about the nature of the reactions, but the Public Health Agency of Canada defines an adverse event as "any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunization." It isn't necessarily causally related to the vaccine.

The adverse event may be any:

An event is considered serious if it:

Bowie did not provide a breakdown of reactions by type of vaccine or by ages, either.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported a possible link between ischemic strokes in people aged 65 and older and the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 bivalent vaccine, which is designed to target the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.

An ischemic stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted or reduced by a blockage or clot. This prevents the brain tissue from getting the oxygen and nutrients it needs to survive.

"Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD [vaccine safety datalink] represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public," the U.S. health officials had said.

New Brunswick Public Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada are all aware of the U.S. report, issued on Jan. 13, based on their vaccine adverse event reporting surveillance system, said Bowie.

"So far, these safety concerns have not been raised through other vaccine safety monitoring systems in the United States, or in other countries — including Canada," he said in an emailed statement.

"It should be noted the CDC did not recommend any changes to vaccination practices at this time, and that these adverse events have not yet been confirmed to have been caused by the vaccines administered.

"Additional analysis and reviews must be completed to further explore the causes of these reactions and that data is used as part of the continuous monitoring of the safety of these vaccines."

Still, New Brunswick and federal health officials are "monitoring this situation closely," said Bowie.