INSULT TO INJURY: Toronto Public Health accused of mishandling one woman’s vaccine injury

One Toronto woman is not only navigating the debilitating effects of a Pfizer-induced COVID-19 vaccine injury but also the fallout of Toronto Public Health’s miscommunication with her family doctor.

In the summer of 2021, Annabelle Edge received two of Pfizer's rushed mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Despite a manageable reaction to her first dose — celebrated by the media as a sign the vaccine was ‘working’ — she was dismissed by vaccinators when raising concerns at her second appointment. Edge proceeded with vaccination despite having pre-existing medical conditions and a prior COVID-19 infection, which may have exempted her from the shots.

Suffering from painful neuralgia flare, Bell's Palsy, and swollen lymph nodes (lymphadenopathy), Edge sought to have her vaccine injury documented through the Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) system.

That was throttled by Toronto Public Health (TPH), who are the gatekeepers
of the Canadian Adverse Events Following Immunization Surveillance System (CAEFFIS). The agency created a barrier to Edge’s claim by providing two separate AEFI investigational letters – one to her and, unbeknownst to Edge, a modified version to her family doctor. This resulted in years’ long rigmarole ultimately leading to her injury being unrecognized and inadequately addressed.

It took Edge two years to figure this out. It wasn’t until she finally received a referral to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist that she realized why her condition was constantly being gaslit as psychological.

While there are no safety signals for COVID-19 vaccination and neuralgia,” the added paragraph sent unbeknownst to Edge reads, “it’s possible the immunogenicity stimulated by vaccination may have exacerbated her pain.”

The next paragraph continues:

Another explanation for her symptoms may be Functional Neurological Disorder: Best understood as a disruption in the brain’s normal mechanisms for controlling the body…often triggered by a combination of abnormal physical and psychological experiences. We would expect FND to develop in some individuals after vaccination due to a combination of heightened stress owing to the pandemic, and discomfort after vaccination.

A recording that Edge has with a TPH shows that this was an intentional action by the “AEFI Investigator” with questionable logic around discussions that were supposed to ensue between her and her family doctor. These conversations did not occur, since neither Edge nor her Doctor were privy to the other receiving modified letters.

Two years later, TPH issued Edge a third letter in August 2023, stating that they “completed our investigation of the report and concluded that Annabelle Edge had E.6 – other severe/unusual events: flare in pre-existing neuralgia and B.3 – Adenopathy/lymphadenopathy.”

Yet Edge asserts that the VISP program was not given this updated letter, and their handpicked medical review board doctors dismissed her claim based on the original letter(s), leaving Edge unable to work and pay for the medical treatment she so desperately needs or scrambled to start the bureaucratic heavy and paperwork burdening yearslong process all over again.

Rebel News contacted TPH for comment and despite a previous refusal to respond, media relations said they are “looking into” the query “and will be in touch.”