Western Australia had implemented a stringent lockdown of borders and there were virtually NO cases of Covid-19 in Western Australia during 2021. The vaccine role out began February 2021. So that demonstrates the adverse reactions resulted directly from the Covid-19 vaccines and NOT the Covid-19 virus.

Is there something here for the rest of Australia and indeed the world to learn from?

Of all the adverse events following immunisation that took place in the WA population, what percentage would you estimate were actually reported to the Western Australian Vaccine Safety Surveillance (WAVSS)?

What do you think the culture was in the health care services during the vaccine role out, was it to encourage reporting of potential adverse events or was the culture to discourage reporting to WAVSS?

In WA in 2020, 2,071,167 doses of pre-covid (traditional) vaccines were given to the population as a whole, this resulted in 270 reports of adverse events following immunisation.

For the 3,948,673 COVID-19 vaccines given in 2021, there were 10,726 individual AEFI reports in 2021. (97% of these reports followed covid vaccination)

What do you think this tells us about the frequency of adverse events following covid vaccines in comparison to traditional vaccines?

This is a horrendous volume of adverse events following immunisation. Do you feel the rate of adverse events would be equally high throughout the rest of Australia? (or was WA a ‘special case’)

Total reported AEFI rate following a COVID-19 vaccine was 264.1 per 100,000 doses. For non-covid (traditional) vaccinations in WA, during the same 2021-time frame there were 11.1 events per 100,000 doses.

Why did we had to waite until July 2023 to get this data? Should this have been seen as a ‘red flag’ by the regulators contemporaneously in 2021? If so, what should they have done about the problem?

Some of the important AEFI that have been specifically monitored by the TGA-coordinated national surveillance vaccine safety program include, Anaphylaxis, Thrombosis with thrombocytopaenia syndrome (TTS), Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), Myocarditis, Pericarditis, Myopericarditis, Chest pain, Deep venous thrombosis, Pulmonary embolism and Bell’s palsy, to name but a few.

Given that we know all of this now, how should this effect the regulatory approval of the current mRNA vaccines?

In 2021 there were 1,125 appointments made at the adult vaccine safety clinic at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, up from seven appointments made in 2020.

Do you consider this level of referrals indicated the vaccines were safe?

In 2021 there were 439 appointments made at the Perth Children’s Hospital specialist immunisation clinic, up from 214 in 2020. Does this have any implications for vaccinating children with covid vaccines?