Coalition Presents Letter Signed by Canadian Scientists, Asking Health Officials to Affirm COVID Vaccine ‘Safety Risks’

A health worker prepares a syringe with COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic in Montreal on March 15, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson)

A coalition of over 20 public interest groups is calling on the federal government to publicly affirm the “material risks and scientific uncertainties” related to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, presenting a letter signed by 19 doctors, scientists, and academics across the country.

Coming together as the “Citizens’ Group,” the coalition wrote the letter to Jean-Yves Duclos and Dr. Theresa Tam dated Oct. 13, asking for “transparent answers” to all questions and concerns revolving around COVID-19 vaccines.

“In our view, you have not, to date, properly informed Canadian citizens as to the material risks and scientific uncertainties related to the previously authorized lipid nanoparticle COVID-19 mRNA or adenoviral DNA vaccines,” said the letter, submitted by interest groups such as the B.C. Public Service Employees for Freedom, Police for Freedom, and the United Health Care Workers of Ontario (UHCWO).

According to the group, the scientific content included in the letter has been reviewed by 19 doctors, scientists, and academics across the country with specializations including medicine, epidemiology, and microbiology.

Among them are Philip Britz-McKibbin, a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at McMaster University, Claudia Chaufan, associate professor of health policy and global health at York University, Bernard Massie, former director of Human Health Therapeutics Research Center of the National Research Council, and Kanji Nakatsu, professor emeritus in pharmacology at Queen’s University.

The Citizens’ Group says that Health Canada “currently has no conclusive data” to ascertain the extent to which one may experience cell and tissue damage from receiving the shots in the short or long term, and calls on the public health agency to acknowledge this publicly.

The letter included an appendix, titled “Proposed Government Safety Risk Statement on COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines,” which the group urged the minister and health officer to review and respond to.

“If you dispute any assertion or principle contained in this Safety Risk Statement, then we respectfully ask that you provide a substantive response and comment so that members of the public may properly understand your position on the matters put forward in this document.”

‘Distinct' from Traditional Vaccines

The Safety Risk Statement asserts that COVID-19 vaccines “are distinct from traditional vaccine products” in the way they stimulate an immune response in a person’s body.

“All authorized COVID-19 mRNA vaccines work by instructing your cells to express a spike protein that is anchored to that cell. To stimulate an immune response, your immune system initially attacks, damages, and/or destroys that cell,” said the statement.

“Though the vaccine is administered in your arm, a certain portion of your vaccine (currently unknown) goes beyond your arm and distributes throughout your body, where it may be taken up into various tissues, including liver, spleen, adrenals, ovaries, heart and the brain. The extent of cell and/or tissue damage in your body, beyond your arm, may differ widely from person to person.”

The statement also said that Health Canada has no “conclusive data” to determine the extent to which a person may experience cell and tissue damage that may impact his or her health in the long term.

“It is possible that you may incur such damage without necessarily experiencing it as an adverse event related to the time of vaccination,” it said.

“Moreover, with each successive dose on this platform, the damage may be cumulative. Some types of cells—such as brain neurons and cardiac muscle cells—cannot be regenerated once they die.”

In an email to The Epoch Times on Oct. 24, one of the letter’s signatories confirmed the group has not received a reply from Duclos and Tam to date.

“Unfortunately neither have responded. It was our hope to have these pressing issues addressed or at the very least open some dialogue,” said a spokesperson from UHCWO.

The Epoch Times reached out to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada for comment but the department said it was unable to respond by publication time.

Booster Campaign

The federal government has been calling for an increase in the country’s booster shot uptake in recent months. On Sept. 1, Duclos announced that the government would implement a national campaign encouraging Canadians to receive booster doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

A national public education campaign was launched a month later saying that it provides Canadians with “evidence-based information” on COVID-19. Platforms used to convey messages include advertising, social media posts, and information resources that the campaign says “encourages behaviours that protect individuals and our communities.”

Tam also told Canadians in a press conference on Oct. 7 to get boosted within the federal recommended timeline or risk getting themselves and others hospitalized due to falling vaccine immunity against the virus.

The group told Duclos and Tam that if they opt to mandate COVID vaccination again this fall with measures that cause loss of employment, movement, and access to services and education, “we are entitled to seek any and all legal remedies against you ... both domestically and through international courts of law.”