Quebec Man's COVID Vaccine Story Spurs Others to Come Forward

Canadians who say they suffered adverse reactions dealing with silence, stigma

The story of a Gatineau, Que., man who developed a debilitating skin condition after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine has struck a chord with many Canadians, dozens of whom reached out to share their own similar experiences.

Shortly after Tisir Otahbachi received his second dose of the Moderna vaccine in August 2021, a burning rash that had started on his hand spread to his limbs and back, forcing him to quit his jobs and

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, only a tiny fraction — 0.011 per cent — of the more than 95 million vaccine doses administered in this country as of Dec. 9 resulted in serious adverse reactions. But that's still more than 10,000 reported cases.

Otahbachi, who had never experienced any skin problems before, told CBC that throughout his ordeal, most of the doctors who examined him dismissed the possibility of any link between the vaccine and the sudden onset of his painful condition.

"I told [them] I'm not against the vaccine, but the vaccine damaged my body," he said. "The doctors that I've been to, all of them were scared."

According to Earl Brown, a professor emeritus of virology at the University of Ottawa, certain elements of these vaccines can trigger an autoimmune response that targets our own tissues.

"You've got a lot of people who have developed antibodies to these vaccine components because they're used elsewhere in medicine or in cosmetics or in food," Brown told CBC last week.

While many of those who reached out after reading Otahbachi's story said they'd also had a difficult time convincing doctors that a COVID vaccine may have caused their skin condition, Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning last week that medical professionals are encouraged to report all suspected cases.

"We want to understand the full range of what can happen with vaccines," Etches said. "We know these kinds of things are extremely rare, but we have a system for reporting so that we can find rare things and assist people."

Local health units then report those reactions to Public Health Ontario, which compiles and examines the data to spot wider trends, Etches said.

"Overall of course we know vaccines are providing a great benefit in protecting people from severe outcomes [of COVID-19]."

It wasn't until about two weeks after his first Moderna booster last January that his symptoms "really blew up," Corless told CBC.

"My skin erupted in pretty severe urticaria and my breathing became restricted, similar to asthma attacks, occurring every few hours but unresponsive to asthma inhalers and even prednisone," he said.

Corless, a writer and dual citizen who now lives near Montreal after spending years in the U.S., has been to a series of specialists including one doctor who convinced him to give up the family dog over allergy concerns.

"None of that moved the needle," Corless said. "I think they just don't know enough about it."

Corless has joined a Facebook group with thousands of members who have been dealing with similar symptoms since receiving a COVID vaccine. He said he's also reached out to Moderna, but got nowhere.

"I am absolutely pro-vaccine, I want to be vaccinated," Corless said. "But now what? Where's the backup and help with this? I think we're just kind of all left stranded. That's the difficult part. It's like, we played along — now what?"

Sandra Ashby spent New Year's Eve in the emergency room of a hospital in Haliburton, Ont., her skin burning to the point that she could no longer stand it.

"I was there because I didn't know where to go," Ashby told CBC. "This is where it's so painful, because there is no help in dealing with this."

Eight months earlier, Ashby, a retired teacher in her mid-60s who resides in Toronto, had received her second booster shot of the Moderna vaccine before travelling to England. Small spots resembling insect bites soon appeared on her legs, forming an itchy rash that eventually covered three-quarters of her body.

Ashby, who had experienced mild eczema in the past, was prescribed a series of topical corticosteroids, but worried about the long-term effects on her skin, tried to wean herself off the powerful medication. She now suspects she's experiencing steroid withdrawal, compounding her discomfort.

"What I've got now is unbelievably painful. I mean, sleeping is just awful. I'm lucky if I get some sleep," she said.

Still, none of the many doctors she's seen have been willing to draw a direct link between the vaccine and her condition.

"They don't have time to address it, they don't want to make the connection, they're concerned about the anti-vaxxers, they're concerned about the politics of it, and I understand all of that. But what I'm upset about is, I'm in this situation and I don't know how to get out," she said.

Daniel, 41, was eager to share his story, but asked CBC to withhold his surname because some of his family members work in the medical field.

"I wouldn't want any sort of stigma being placed on them, or any sort of association with the anti-vaccine movement or anything like that," said the engineer, who lives with his wife and their young daughter in Edmonton.

"I'm not anti-vaccine by any means — I've had every vaccine under the sun. It's just that I've had this adverse reaction that can't be explained through normal, typical medical history."

Daniel, who had never experienced any sort of skin ailment before, first developed itchy, acne-like blisters on his fingers about three weeks after receiving his second dose of the Moderna vaccine in June 2021. His condition soon worsened, leaving him with painful open sores.

"If you look around my home, you'll see blood smeared on the light switches and door handles because my hands are just constantly bleeding," he said.

Daniel was eventually diagnosed with dyshidrotic eczema and was prescribed a series of increasingly powerful steroid creams. He also undergoes ultraviolet light therapy three times a week.

While his symptoms have improved somewhat, Daniel worries he's "chasing his tail" instead of addressing the root cause of his condition.

Study identifies gene variant in Inuit causing more severe reactions to infections

"I started bringing it up with the medical professionals and saying hey, there seems to be this temporal link between developing my symptoms and when I was vaccinated, but none of [them] really addressed that or even acknowledged that statement. They kind of just brushed it off or ignored it," he said.

"If there is something in this vaccine that's triggering this event, that could change the course of treatment for people and maybe lead to a successful treatment outcome.

"That's why I think it's really critical to start maybe getting less of the stigma there and not treating people as anti-vaccine, just realizing that hey, these people might be the unlucky ones."

So, there is a stigma to getting a reaction to a vaccine. It means you are a bad person.

And a medical professional who has a relative who got a reaction to the vaccine should be stigmatized, even if they disagreed with their relative's decision to have an adverse reaction to a vaccine.

And if a doctor, has a patient who seems to have a adverse reaction to a vaccine, the correct response is to be scared.

I had a 2-month rash on my inner legs and arms after the Omnicron. My doctor dismissed it as “typical” viral rash, but finally prescribed a strong antihistamine that resolved it.

Did the J&J I took make me susceptible to it? Or was it purely the Woo? I’d like to know.

Either way, since both the Woo and the Vax are man-made, I know for damned sure that this rash was NOT TYPICAL. I’ve never had a viral rash in my life.

The lying stench of the “experts” is as bad as the Woo virus itself — both have murdered.

"I told [them] I'm not against the vaccine, but the vaccine damaged my body," he said. "The doctors that I've been to, all of them were scared."

Whatever might they have been "scared" of? Up there in benign, compassionate Canadia? How can there be anything to cause fear up there? They have their "Charter of Rights and Freedoms" (or something like that) to keep them safe. It's perfection.

Perhaps the doctors were scared that Donald Trump would mobilize a hoard of old white guys from Florida and New Hampshire and invade the place. Don't know anyone would want to do it though. Besides, I don't think he's President anymore.

I have had any number of vaccines because I have lived all over the world.

They very calmly and professionally dealt with my problem.

No one tried to tell me that it was all in my head or that it might be something else.

But that was before the world went insane over the mysterious virus of unknown origin.

You know, back in the dark ages.

PERSPECTIVE| VOLUME 31, ISSUE 1, P146-157, JANUARY 11, 2023
Rethinking next-generation vaccines for coronaviruses, influenzaviruses, and other respiratory viruses
David M. Morens
Jeffery K. Taubenberger
Anthony S. Fauci DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chom.2022.11.016
PlumX Metrics

Summary
Viruses that replicate in the human respiratory mucosa without infecting systemically, including influenza A, SARS-CoV-2, endemic coronaviruses, RSV, and many other “common cold” viruses, cause significant mortality and morbidity and are important public health concerns. Because these viruses generally do not elicit complete and durable protective immunity by themselves, they have not to date been effectively controlled by licensed or experimental vaccines. In this review, we examine challenges that have impeded development of effective mucosal respiratory vaccines, emphasizing that all of these viruses replicate extremely rapidly in the surface epithelium and are quickly transmitted to other hosts, within a narrow window of time before adaptive immune responses are fully marshaled.

Every time the doctor would go over the possible side effects and adverse reactions that could happen. Once when I did have a bad reaction I called my doctor who told me to go to the ER and he would meet me there. After several hours of treatment I was fine but was told to never have that type of vaccine again. They very calmly and professionally dealt with my problem. No one tried to tell me that it was all in my head or that it might be something else.

You are very fortunate. I have allergic issues that my new allergy doctors are completely unwilling to address, and I have gotten the “psychological issues” line from them. My reactions are delayed food reactions, which is a real thing but they just seem to want to deal with classic IgE immediate response issues.

Never heard it from my old doctors in NY and still am trying to figure out how itching, swelling, and Benadryl helping some, etc is not allergic. The most frustrating thing is the doctors unwillingness to take any proactive action to find out just what it is if it’s not allergic, like they say.

Sounds like you need new new doctors.

Although once they tag you with the dreaded "non-compliant" label it can be tough to find one that will listen to you.

But keep trying until you find someone who will listen to you.

I am on my fourth doctor. My last one was not inclined to listen to me so I was seriously considering giving him the boot anyway when his office announced that they would no longer take my insurance and solved the dilemma for me.

I’ve lived a very long time and I’ve never had a vaccine of any kind. So, I didn’t even think about getting the covid one. I’ve never been really sick. Had 4 kids. I guess maybe I can be called a naturalist. I leaned the old herbal remedies from great grand, grandmother and mother. I have added a few vitamines but that is all. I have old age bone pains from time to time, but those are not too bad. I use Vinegar inside and out for bone aches, and exercise helps too. No covid yet. Not isolated and go where ever I want to. Nobody has challenged me yet about masks or vaccines. Don’t plan to.

There is nobody else close, un fortunately.

Here in NH, Darthmouth Hospital is the major player in healthcare. They hvve satellites and affiliates all over the state.

It also depends a lot on the dept. I have found gastro to be good, but allergy, well, there’s not much choice. Their cancer and urology has done right by mr.mm and I am still trying to figure out why I’m the one getting shafted.

A friend from church recommended his allergist who is a couple hours away. I am very seriously considering giving them a call Monday even though it’s a hike, almost two hours away.

This friend got nowhere with DH’s allergists and his current one figured out what hisn problem was.

Everyone knew that it was a Vax risk. Any side effect would lever be linked to the Vax and hence never resolved or identified. That was obvious from the start. They pretended it was safe than water and more effective than Jesus. No issue can be caused therefore no issue can be resolved.

Idiots. If it wasn’t for my own flesh and blood having gotten the Vax, I would hope for 100% fatality rate at V+10. . Dumb, ignorant and gullible should be deadly to clean up genetics. That I want to see the elites get it around year V+5

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.