[00:00:00]

Shawn Buckley

Our next witness is Madison Lowe. Madison, can you please state your full name for the record, spelling your first and last name?

Madison Lowe

Madison Ragna Lowe, M-A-D-I-S-O-N L-O-W-E.

Shawn Buckley

Madison, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Madison Lowe

Yes, I do.

Shawn Buckley

Now, you are a software developer, you’ve got a software engineering degree, and you’ve been working as a software developer for nine years.

Madison Lowe

That’s correct.

Shawn Buckley

Now, you made a decision to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. Can you share with us what led you to that decision?

Madison Lowe

Well, I felt pressured to get the vaccine to see people, to go to restaurants, to travel. And I went to a government website, a canada.ca website, that was displaying the number of adverse events and the number of shots distributed in Canada. And I used that website to determine if I was comfortable with the risk of the vaccine.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, so you’re basically going to a Government of Canada site to get truthful information about adverse reactions so you can figure out, basically, do a risk benefit analysis for yourself.

Madison Lowe

That’s right.

Shawn Buckley

Did you also look at how they were collecting the data? Can you speak about that?

Madison Lowe

Yeah, the same canada.ca website, I was curious how adverse events were collected, how post-marketing surveillance was performed. And I found guidance on submitting an adverse event form on the website. The guidance included what constituted a serious adverse event. It had timelines for if a symptom shows up within a certain amount of time from getting a vaccine, then you should report an adverse event. It had this information for non-mRNA vaccines, but I made the assumption that the process would apply to mRNA vaccines as well.

Shawn Buckley

Is it fair to say that you felt assured that the data was being collected in a rigorous way and an unbiased way?

Madison Lowe

Yes, I made the assumption that it was collected in a rigorous and unbiased way, and also that new, bad side effects were being actively looked for.

Shawn Buckley

Right, and I use terms that actually you had brought up during an interview, just in case anyone thinks I’m leading this witness. You were actually basically doing due diligence to try and make an informed decision.

Madison Lowe

Yes, I was.

Shawn Buckley

And then you decided the risk was low, so you took the vaccine.

Madison Lowe

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

So can you tell us what happened?

Madison Lowe

So I got two shots of Moderna, and three days after my second shot, I started getting new symptoms that I’d never had before. I had a high resting heart rate. I’m a runner, so my resting heart rate is usually around 60 beats per minute, and it was spiking over a hundred beats per minute and getting up to 130. Sometimes these episodes would come along with feelings of anxiety, but the worst part was that they would trigger pre-existing gastrointestinal issues, and that was really the debilitating part.

Shawn Buckley

Now, but when you say pre-existing gastrointestinal issue, before the second shot, you managed that; you managed the symptoms of that pre-existing issue; you were able to, you know, live reasonably normal.

Madison Lowe

That’s correct. I was able to participate in all aspects of life, fine.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, so you’re speaking about something completely different than before.

Madison Lowe

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley

And how long did these symptoms persist?

Madison Lowe

Well, many months. Six months full on and then started getting better, and I am much better now, but still not 100 per cent.

Shawn Buckley

Okay, now you actually went to your doctor to see if you could get your adverse reaction reported. Can you tell us about that?

Madison Lowe

That’s right. So I went on this canada.ca site that was showing how to submit an adverse event report. And I brought that site to the doctor I was seeing at the time and told her, “Look, I meet the criteria for an adverse event. So we should report it so that it’s tracked.” And she agreed, and she submitted the adverse event report, which is great.

[00:05:00]

Shawn Buckley

Okay, so your doctor was on side. Your doctor submitted the form. And what happened after that?

Madison Lowe

A little while later, AHS [Alberta Health Services] phoned me to tell me they weren’t going to submit my report to the surveillance database because it was not a known side effect.

Shawn Buckley

I’m just going to stop you there. I think you need to repeat that and speak slowly.

Madison Lowe

AHS phoned me to tell me they were not going to submit my adverse event report to the surveillance database. This is the database that I believe was driving that webpage that I was using to make the decision because it was not a known side effect. So at that point in time, I knew that that webpage wasn’t showing all the data that I cared about.

Shawn Buckley

Right, so basically the message is that they were not looking for new side effects.

Madison Lowe

That is what I concluded from that.

Shawn Buckley

How did you feel about that?

Madison Lowe

I was shocked. I had no idea that the post-marketing surveillance system was so broken, I guess.

Shawn Buckley

Right, so how would you recommend that we do things differently going forward?

Madison Lowe

To make an informed decision about a pharmaceutical, I would like data to be collected in a thorough, accurate, and unbiased way. I would like statistical analysis to be performed on all the data by experts. I would like the methods, results, and conflicts of interest to be publicly available. And I would like the risks and unknowns to be made public.

Since my report was tossed away, I don’t trust that anyone is investigating whether or not my symptoms were caused by the vaccine. And to me, that’s an unknown. And when I make a decision, the unknowns, matter as much to me, as the known risks.

Shawn Buckley

Thank you. And I actually thank you for those four points which I saw the commissioners writing down, because I know you actually you put in a lot of thought in making those recommendations. I’ll ask the commissioners now if they have any questions of you.

Commissioner Drysdale

When you were given your two Moderna shots did whoever provided those injections, did they talk to you about what the unknowns were, what the side effects might be, what the risks were, what the benefits were, so you could make an informed decision?

Madison Lowe

No, certainly not. The only messaging I remember receiving about the shots was that they were safe. And that’s basically it.

Commissioner Drysdale

And you reviewed the government website as well, you were saying in your testimony, prior to getting the shots?

Madison Lowe

Yes, I looked at the webpage that was showing the number of adverse events.

Commissioner Drysdale

And they didn’t provide any information about adverse effects or the risks of having taken the vaccine, as well?

Madison Lowe

There was a lot of, there were some adverse events listed. The rate was quite low, so I thought it was acceptable for myself.

Commissioner Drysdale

Did the website tell you that death was a possible side effect?

Madison Lowe

I specifically remember looking that up. And that was really interesting for me because I was looking at, I looked for the criteria for how they figured out if death was associated, or death was caused by the vaccine. And what they reported was, they had a number of deaths that were reported as being caused by the vaccine, and then they decided that they weren’t, and then several that were inconclusive. But none that they had determined were actually caused by the vaccine.

Commissioner Drysdale

Did you have any understanding before you went in for your shots what your risk of actually contracting and dying of COVID-19 was, given your age group?

Madison Lowe

No, I don’t think I did.

Commissioner Drysdale

Thank you.

Shawn Buckley

There being no further questions, Madison, on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, we sincerely thank you for your testimony today.

Madison Lowe

Thank you for the opportunity.

[00:10:15]

Final Review and Approval:  Anna Cairns, August 30, 2023.   

The evidence offered in this transcript is a true and faithful record of witness testimony given during the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) hearings. The transcript was prepared by members of a team of volunteers using an “intelligent verbatim” transcription method.

For further information on the transcription process, method, and team, see the NCI website: https://nationalcitizensinquiry.ca/about-these-transcripts/

Summary

Ms. Lowe, a software engineer, felt pressured to get vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine to enjoy daily living (to see people, go to restaurants, travel). She used a Government of Canada website for vaccinations in general to conduct her own risk benefit analysis and then decided to get vaccinated with a Moderna shot.

Within three days of her second shot, she experienced adverse events, including aggravation of a pre-existing gastrointestinal issue. Her doctor agreed to submit an adverse event report on her behalf. She was contacted by Alberta Health Services who advised her that her report would not be submitted to the surveillance database, because her adverse event was not a known side effect of the vaccine.

She concluded that Alberta Health Services was not looking for new side effects from the COVID vaccinations, and therefore the government website was inaccurate and incomplete, affecting one’s ability to make an informed decision.