Public Health Ontario is receiving hundreds of reports every week of “adverse events” following immunization (AEFIs) now that the provincial vaccination rollout plan is in full swing.
The report also shows that 236 events were reported from Northern Ontario, which was 12.5 per cent of the total number — 1,878 events — in all of Ontario.
There were also 63 events reported by Public Health Sudbury, or 3.3 per cent of the total in the province, which was the highest number of any Northern Ontario health unit area.
The latest statistics from Public Health Ontario (PHO) give a breakdown of adverse events based on data collected between Dec. 13, 2020 and April 24, 2021, which was a week ago Saturday. PHO said the data was extracted from public health files as of 9 a.m. on April 26.
A quick look at that time period (132 days) reveals there were a total of 1,878 AEFI reports received following 4,629,149 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered, which is 00.04 per cent.
PHO said 1,815 of those events — more than 96 per cent — were described as "non-serious.”
PHO said the most commonly reported adverse events were allergic skin reactions and pain/redness/swelling at the injection site, reported as 28.6 per cent and 25.4 per cent of the total AEFI reports respectively.
There were however 63 AEFI reports that were described as serious, said the PHO summary. Also, two of the AEFI incidents had fatal results.
The PHO report said: "One report of death occurred in a resident of a health-care institution with significant co-morbidities. The cause of death was not attributed to the vaccine. The second report of death occurred in a community dwelling senior with complex cardiovascular and renal conditions, wherein the AEFI may have contributed to but was not the underlying cause of death."
There were also 34 reports described as adverse events of special interest. PHO said half of those, 17 of the 34, were described as serious.
- Twenty reports of “coagulation disorder”, including three with thrombocytopenia (which can result in blood clots).
- Seven reports of “acute cardiovascular injury”.
- Three reports of “acute kidney injury”.
- Two reports of “anosmia and/or ageusia” (loss of smell, loss of taste).
- Two reports of “erythema multiforme” (skin rash).
- One report of “acute respiratory distress syndrome” (lung inflammation).
- One report of “single organ cutaneous vasculitis”.
PHO said the sum of the incidents would not equal the sum of the reports because some individuals reported more than one adverse event.
Also included in the report are incidents described as "medically important events".
PHO said these were also adverse events based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidance, regardless of whether they meet the serious AEFI definition. PHO said these types of events might jeopardize the patient or may require intervention to prevent an outcome described in the serious definition.
This included:
- Seven reports of thrombocytopenia: three following the COVISHIELD (AstraZeneca) vaccine, three following the Moderna vaccine and one following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
- Three reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS): two following the COVISHIELD vaccine and one following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
- One report of myelitis/transverse myelitis following the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine
- Several incidents occurred which PHO said were managed as anaphylaxis (serious allergic reaction) in which nine met the definition of a serious AEFI.
PHO said there were 78 anaphylaxis reports with 65 that received epinephrine, 66 were seen in the emergency department and 60 were fully recovered at the time of reporting.
PHO also broke down the results by geographic area, according to local public health units. Out of the Ontario total of 1,878 adverse events, 236 occurred in Northern Ontario.
- Public Health Sudbury & Districts topped the list in the North and reported 63 incidents.
- Northwestern Health unit was next on the list with 48 incidents.
- Porcupine Health Unit reported 37 incidents.
- North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit reported 30 incidents.
- Timiskaming Health Unit reported 21 incidents.
- Algoma Public Health reported 19 incidents.
- Thunder Bay District Health Unit reported 18 incidents.
PHO also provided statistics outlining the ratio of the event rate per 100,000 vaccine doses administered. This took in the full area serviced by a health unit and not individual communities.
- Northwestern Health Unit topped that list with 189.9 events per 100,000 doses.
- Timiskaming Health Unit's rate was 172.6 events.
- Porcupine Health Unit's rate was 136.4 events.
- Public Health Sudbury and District's rate was 95.5 events.
- North Bay Parry Sound's rate was 76.6 events.
- Algoma Public Health's rate was 53.8 events.
- Thunder Bay District Health Unit's rate was 30.1 per events per 100,000 doses.
(The "rates" reported above are not to be confused with actual events, but are only reported by PHO as a comparative ratio.)
Len Gillis is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Sudbury.com, covering health care in Northern Ontario. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the federal government.
