Dr. Tom Shimabukuro, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Immunization Safety Office, spoke about reports of serious “debilitating” adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination during a Jan 26 FDA meeting, according to an Epoch Times report.
Dr. Shimabukuro noted “reports of people experiencing debilitating illnesses,” saying the agency is “aware of these reports of people experiencing long-lasting health problems following COVID vaccination.”
“In some cases, the clinical presentation of people suffering these health problems is variable and no specific medical cause for the symptoms have been found,” Dr. Shimabukuro went on to say.
Shimabukuro acknowledged how these vaccine-linked injuries “substantially impacted” people’s lives.
“We understand that illness is disruptive and stressful, especially under those circumstances. And we acknowledge these health problems have substantially impacted the quality of life for people and have also affected those around them,” he said. “And we hope for improvement and recovery, and we will continue to monitor the safety of these vaccines and work with partners to try to better understand these types of adverse events.”
Dr. Hayley Gans, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University Medical Center, asked Shimabukuro about how federal authorities track issues that arise after vaccination.
The doctor explained that the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) accepts reports of adverse events from anyone, including healthcare workers, without evaluating the clinical seriousness or causality.
Shimabukuro added, “We take vaccine safety seriously, and we will continue to monitor the safety of these vaccines.”
Dr. Shimabukuro’s remarks are a rare occurrence among federal officials who have been hesitant to link adverse events to COVID-19 vaccines, Epoch Times notes.
Brianne Dressen, who was injured by AstraZeneca’s vaccine, welcomed the response but questioned if it was enough.
Dressen, co-founder of the ‘React19’ support group, said, “This was an unprecedented move but also was a carefully worded response. Instead of a little whisper in an FDA meeting, this really needs to be communicated to the medical community.”
“They have said these very words to us privately so it’s good they are finally leaning in the right direction to start the conversation publicly, but is it too little too late?” she asked. “Injured Americans have been begging these agencies for acknowledgment for over two years. This small utterance should have happened long ago. By now we should be openly discussing and researching these Covid vaccine reactions.”
