The senior Health Canada official who had final authority for the approval of the COVID-19 vaccines says the surveillance system to monitor its adverse events falls far short on providing an accurate picture of the situation.
“We do expect there to be a lot of underreporting,” said Dr. Celia Lourenco, acting associate assistant deputy minister with Health Canada, during a Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board hearing on July 13.
The official approved the COVID-19 vaccines currently on the market in her previous role as director-general of the Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate in the department.
Dr. Lourenco said this underreporting is a “well-known fact,” because health-care professionals may not report the adverse events, or patients may not report it to a physician….