In the year since he was partially paralyzed, Ross Wightman has maintained his focus on small victories, from climbing stairs helplessly to walking alone near his BC cottage.
But the biggest victory came in the form of an email from Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) confirming something he says he has always known: that his condition was probably caused by the vaccine Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19.
“That was pretty vindictive,” Wightman said from his Lake Country home in the Okanagan Valley. “Having it in hand, on paper, recognizing it has been a vindication.”
Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare disease that affects the nervous system a few days after his first and only dose of the vaccine. The disease can cause paralysis, muscle weakness and even death.
“Every day is a routine,” said Wightman, who still has substantially limited mobility in his arms and legs. “[The letter] it doesn’t change my condition or the way I feel excessively; it’s nice to have it, ”he added.
GBS diagnoses following a vaccination against COVID-19 are extremely rare (approximately one in 700,000), according to data from the BC Center for Disease Control (BCCDC) and Health Canada.
According to the BCCDC, there have been 10 reports of individuals hospitalized with GBS in the 30 days following a vaccine against COVID-19 since December 2020, all of them discharged. Four reports followed the AstraZeneca vaccine, five followed Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty and one followed Moderna Spikevax.
More than 11.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in BC, and health experts have noted that the risks associated with coronavirus infection far outweigh the risks of vaccination. There have been more than 41,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 in Canada.
The letter Wightman received makes him one of the few Canadians to be approved for a COVID-19 vaccine injury benefit. He chose not to share his full assignment with CBC News citing privacy issues, but said the program’s maximum payment is about $ 284,000. Wightman said he did not qualify for the full amount.
Ross Wightman received this letter confirming a likely link between his GBS and his dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. (Ross Wightman / Facebook)
He said he is also eligible for income replacement up to $ 90,000 a year.
CBC News has contacted Health Canada for more clarity on the program’s pay structure. Its latest data suggests that fewer than five people have been approved for injury benefits, with numbers to be updated on Wednesday.
“Not too excited”
Wightman, who worked as a pilot and real estate agent before his diagnosis, has spent the last year unable to work. He can’t travel far alone. But the hardest part is sitting on the sidelines without being able to do physical activities with your children, he says.
“Playing football with the kids on the playground. My big one is great at baseball, and one of the things I enjoy most is playing on the playground, and I can’t do that. That’s hard,” he said.
Ross Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome shortly after his first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. According to the BCCDC and Health Canada, there have been 10 reports of people hospitalized with GBS within 30 days of a COVID-19 vaccine since December 2020. (Submitted by Ross Wightman)
Despite his approval of the vaccine injury payment, he says he still doesn’t think it matches the physical, emotional, and financial cost he’s suffered over the past year.
“I do not know what number I can say is enough, but [the payout] “It’s not something I’m too excited about,” he said.
Wightman says several of his symptoms, including loss of foot sensation and visual impairments, were not included in his injury benefit assessment, so he plans to appeal to the program’s medical review board. He says he also seeks legal advice.
Ross Wightman has limited ability in his arms and wrists, but he has improved and is able to do more activities independently. (Jon Hernandez / CBC)
“If the lump sum is huge, maybe income replacement is something we could make work, but from the way things have been presented so far, it’s still not something we’ve decided,” he said.
Vaccine compensation
Prior to the pandemic, Canada was the only G7 country that did not have a vaccine injury compensation program.
The country’s massive COVID-19 immunization plan stimulated the development of VISP, said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, an Ottawa Hospital internal medicine physician who was consulted as an expert on the program. . Wilson is also the CEO of CANImmunize, the technology company behind the digital vaccine tracking platform of the same name and a vaccine vaccination expert.
The COVID-19 Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine lanes are empty at Chemist Junction Pharmacy in Toronto in June 2021. Prior to the pandemic, Canada was the only G7 country that did not have a compensation for vaccine injuries. (Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press)
“We told people to get vaccinated and in many cases warrants were issued,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then.
“I am a big believer in vaccine safety. They go through rigorous phase three testing, but rare events can happen, and in those circumstances, these people need to be supported,” he added.
Wilson notes that the risks of COVID-19 infection far outweigh the risks of adverse reactions to vaccines. The AstraZeneca vaccine was largely eliminated in Canada after blood clots appeared in recipients at a rate of about one in 100,000.
Wilson said there were challenges early in developing the program to determine what should be considered a serious vaccine-associated illness. GBS was one of the disorders discussed, as it involves serious health challenges that can often be overcome after a few years.
“I am encouraged to see that this condition was offset, that they were wrong alongside a liberal interpretation of the serious and permanent damage,” he said.
As to whether or not recipients will be satisfied with the program’s evaluated payments, Wilson said they can exercise their right to appeal, though he noted that VISP is still in its early stages.
“There will probably be a lot of adaptations made from the experiences of the initial claims.”