[00:00:00]

Geneviève Eliany
Could you state and spell your name for the record, please?

Meredith Klitzke
My name is Meredith Klitzke, M-E-R-E-D-I-T-H K-L-I-T-Z-K-E.

Geneviève Eliany
Do you promise to tell the truth today?

Meredith Klitzke
I do.

Geneviève Eliany
I understand that you’re suffering from a vaccine injury. Can you tell us about why you ultimately decided to accept the vaccine?

Meredith Klitzke
My initial thoughts on this were, “Absolutely not.” My gut instinct told me not to do this. However, I was faced with a health concern at the time. I was faced with a possible diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. I had had an MRI and they found lesions on my brain.

So unfortunately, I was still watching mainstream media and listening to the press conferences. And having it drilled into my head on a day-to-day basis, if you’re immuno-compromised, you’re at such great risk. And of course, my thinking was going that way at that time. I reached out to my local health unit, I reached out to the MS Society, both of whom stressed beyond belief the importance that I go and do this.
I still wasn’t convinced. And one day in June of 2021, I went to meet a woman who I had known since I was a teenager. I actually referred to her as my little mom. I met her for lunch on a patio and probably the second question out of her mouth was, “Have you got your second shot yet?” And I said to her, “I haven’t got my first.” You would have sworn I had told her I had the plague. She proceeded to berate me. She stated she couldn’t believe that she was there with me, if her husband knew that she was there with me, that she wouldn’t be able to see the grandkids. It was horrible. I asked her if she needed to leave. She said no. The lunch continued. The conversation mellowed. I ended up confiding in her what I was dealing with. And she proceeded to lay into me again how irresponsible it was. She stated that her son was a doctor, her sister was an ICU nurse. That doing this was so detrimental. I mean, this was a woman that I trusted and I knew for a very long time and ultimately, it made me question my own judgement.

So I made the appointment and I went. And I sent her a text message saying it was done. She asked me when the next appointment was. I told her it was scheduled for two months later. She said, “Oh, you can cancel that, they’ve made it so you can do it even quicker now.” And I said, “No, thank you.” I still at this point was not comfortable with the decision that I had made. I had even said to my husband on numerous occasions, “I don’t think I’m going to go back.”

And then I kept seeing the news and reading the tickers and just waiting— Because it was going to be months and months for a neurology appointment. And so I went. Ironically, it was on Friday the 13th of August of ’21. I took the second shot and within two weeks everything changed.

In hindsight, I actually had problems after my first one, but I didn’t put two and two together. I started to deal with the corners of my mouth cracking and pain in my hip. But it was the mouth that was bothersome. And I mean, I had to cut food into tiny little pieces because I couldn’t open it. I thought, “Oh, we’re just— We’re outside in the sun and the wind and—” you know, dry, whatever. I made excuses. But then after the second shot, within two weeks, my lips swelled right up. They just started shedding layers of skin. I developed tremors on my left side and muscle spasms on my left side.

The inoculation essentially put me into menopause. And I’m now dealing with that—having to see a gynecologist on a regular basis. Because I went for a year being tested, had my hormones tested, stating I was post-menopausal, going from completely normal schedules, and now I’m also having breakthrough bleeding after 13 months. They don’t know what’s going on. I’m passing all sorts of bizarre clots and nobody can seem to tell me what’s happening.

I still have to go for a nerve conduction test. That’s been a four-month referral that I still haven’t even got the appointment for yet.

[00:05:00]

Geneviève Eliany
How much weight did you lose as a result of the swelling in your mouth?

Meredith Klitzke
With the mouth, between my dentist and my family doctor, they’re referring to it as Burning Mouth Syndrome. So it’s like— Everything that I ate, it was like I was drinking Tabasco sauce. Even yogurt. All I could do was suck on ice cubes in that first month. I lost 25 pounds. It was a few months before I could really ingest anything. It was awful. It still is.

Geneviève Eliany
How much have you spent approximately on treatment costs?

Meredith Klitzke
I am probably myself close to $10,000. And sadly, that’s low compared to what some people have had to spend. I’m in a course— Sorry.

Geneviève Eliany
Oh no, that was just the chair moving. Please finish.

Meredith Klitzke
I’m in a course. One of the girls just stated the other day, she’s close to $25,000. I know people who have had to sell their homes to try and care for themselves. So we get no assistance and the Vaccine Injury Support Program, which I’ve applied for, I heard from finally in January. And that’s going to be a 12- to 18-month process, when and if you get approved.

Geneviève Eliany
What happened on the work front? Are you able to work?

Meredith Klitzke
I could probably do some part-time work. It’s hard—I would probably be limited to home or something in very, very short shifts because the tremors and the spasms— You don’t quite know when they’re going to come, when they’re going to happen. I also have periods of extreme exhaustion. They seem to be narrowed down to later in the afternoon but it varies.

Geneviève Eliany
You had a store, didn’t you, that you closed? Can you tell us about the specialty store and when you closed it?

Meredith Klitzke
I had a boutique for 16 years. We mainly did bras and shapewear and swimwear. We did proper fittings. I actually carried a size range of 28 to 56, double A to N. And I’m also a certified mastectomy fitter.

I had decided prior to the pandemic— My husband had a really bad accident a number of years ago and it was very much of a struggle. And we decided we wanted to do something together. So I just decided in February of 2020 that it was going to be time to move on and I made the announcement that I was going to close the store. Then, of course, March 17th, I believe it was, we got shut down. And of course, that makes it very difficult to liquidate inventory. So I’m still sitting on boxes of merchandise that I can’t get rid of. I have it online; but, you know, you sell little bits and pieces here and there.

My husband and I had planned on getting into real estate and flipping homes. He’s a contractor. And then the market went crazy and you’re shut down. And then this happened and I don’t know where I go from here.

Geneviève Eliany
Did you have any success filing an adverse event form?

Meredith Klitzke
I was able to get an AEFI [Adverse Event Following Immunization] form filled out. I have been one of the luckier ones, in that I’m maybe shooting at about 50 percent with doctors being— No, probably less than 50 percent, maybe 40 per cent of physicians that I’m dealing with that have been supportive.

My family doctor did fill out the AEFI form. It was submitted to Public Health. What I didn’t realize was that just because your doctor fills out the Adverse Event from Immunization form does not necessarily mean that it’s accepted. So even people that have had them filled out doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re reflected in Health Canada data. What happens is your AEFI form goes to your local medical officer of health. That medical officer of health then assesses your form and decides whether it is legitimate and whether it gets forwarded on to Ontario Public Health.

So a physician who has never met you, has never examined you, probably wouldn’t know you to pass you on the street, is the one who decides your fate. I was able to confirm when I found that out because I wanted to know.

[00:10:00]

So I reached out to the Health Unit and the health nurse contacted me back. She said “Yes, it did get forwarded on.” I said, “I would like written confirmation of that, please.” So I did get an email stating the date on which it was received and the date that it was forwarded to Public Health [Exhibit TO-19a]. So it should be recorded in the government data. However, things appear to be removed periodically. So I have not followed up on that any further.

It’s been hard. I mean, I know because I run in circles where I have met a number—and I would say into the hundreds—of injured people. I only know of one other person that has been able to successfully get one of these filled out. The Harvard Pilgrim study that ran in the early 2000s—that stated that only, on average, 1 per cent of vaccine adverse events are actually reported—I would say is very true. That’s in my experience.

Geneviève Eliany
Thank you. That completes my questions. We’ll see if the commissioners have any questions.

Commissioner DiGregorio
Thank you so much for sharing with us today. I just had one question about— When your AEFI form, I think you said, gets assessed by a local health officer before being forwarded on, were you spoken to by that officer as part of that process?

Meredith Klitzke
No, they have no contact with you whatsoever.

Commissioner DiGregorio
And you didn’t receive any update on what the processing status was or when it was forwarded?

Meredith Klitzke
I have the email that states: “the AEFI report was received on the 5th of May 2022, reviewed by the Medical Officer of Health, completed, and filed with Public Health Ontario on the 9th of May 2022.” I guess it was a four-day process. But no, they have not been in contact with me. The Health Unit has not been, the Medical Officer of Health has not been. As I said, I’m now dealing with the Vaccine Injury Support Program. They’re in the process of gathering my medical records from what I understand, but it will be a 12- to 18-month process.

Commissioner DiGregorio
Thank you.

Geneviève Eliany
On behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, thank you so much for sharing your story.

Meredith Klitzke
Thank you.

[00:12:48]

Final Review and Approval: Jodi Bruhn, August 16, 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. Klitzke had received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and so ultimately decided to accept the vaccine due to overwhelming persuasion from friends, doctors and media, and even from the MS Society. Although she had some problems with the first shot she had the second shot in August 2021 and within two weeks everything changed; Her lips swelled up (“burning mouth syndrome”), she had left side muscle spasms, went into early menopause, which then turned into passing blood clots.

Commentary on her weight loss, high treatment costs and lack of support both in terms of communication and length of time involved. Her doctor did complete an AEFI (adverse event from immunization) form and it was submitted to the local medical officer of health. If they deem it to be legitimate, it then gets passed on to provincial health to decide the outcome. Thus, it does not mean it has been accepted in the Health Canada data. She knows of over a hundred vaccine injured people and only one who has had a successfully accepted the AEFI form. The Vaccine Injury Support Program is a 12-18 month process, she has not received any assistance to date.