Asking the hard questions, and demanding some answers; Reports of rising stillbirths in Ontario

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

On December 12^th, 2021 MPP Rick Nicholls shared a personal story about his daughter being pregnant. He had told her not to get the vaccine, but she made the personal choice to do so. He expresses the joy he felt when his granddaughter Shiloh, entered the world in February of last year.

He very soon learned that the government was authorizing vaccines for pregnant women, but he questioned what concrete research had been done to ensure the safety of the mother and the baby.

“But now Minister, I shed tears of sorrow!” In the Waterloo area, 86 stillbirths have been reported from January 2021 – July 2021, normally it is one stillbirth every two months.

The mother of these stillbirth babies were fully vaccinated, yet the government has told all of us on several occasions that the vaccines are safe and effective. He asked, “What do you say to the doctors who told their pregnant patients to get fully vaccinated, and what should they tell the mothers who had stillborn babies?”

Christine Elliot (Minister of Health) said this in response,

“It is safe, it has been tested. We are recommending women who are pregnant to get the vaccine, for protection of themselves and the baby as well. It has been proven, and it has been accepted by Health Canada, by the World Health Organization, by the FDA, and this is something that we want to make sure to protect everyone. For women who are pregnant, it is entirely safe and recommended.”

So, first of all, let’s take a look at what is being said. There was a report put out from Dr. Melvin Bruchet, MD who has contacts all through Vancouver, Canada as well as working relationships with doulas who work in women and children’s hospitals. The stillbirths report was not an official report by the Canadian government, but rather from medical eyewitnesses in hospitals. The question here is, are these reports being ignored, and why have we not heard more about them?

Another Canadian doctor has chimed in on this disturbingly growing situation. Dr Daniel Nagase, MD demanded that hospitals release information on the statistics of stillbirths in the country, saying that through Freedom of Information Requests, the public will be able to see the true numbers of stillbirths that are linked to COVID vaccines. This has still not been done.

In December 2020, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/news/covid-19-vaccination-and-pregnancy/) released a report in which its president, Dr Edward Morris, said, “A range of vaccines are routinely and safely offered during pregnancy but as specific clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines in pregnant women have not yet been carried out, there isn’t sufficient evidence to recommend the routine use of COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant or breastfeeding women.”

He added, “Women planning a pregnancy within three months of receiving the first dose are also being advised not to have the vaccine, but this is precautionary advice until we have information from research studies in pregnancy.” Hmmm! This does not sound like the experts are sure that this vaccine is safe and effective.

I was able to find another article, “Preterm birth and stillbirth rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based cohort study,” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8354648/) that also shared some thoughtful statistics. In Ontario, Canada, there were no unusual changes in preterm birth or stillbirth rates, overall or by subgroups, during the first twelve months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the previous 17.5 years.

It states that preterm birth (birth before 37 weeks’ gestation) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidities in the neonatal period of childhood and adulthood. They say that the causes of both preterm birth and stillbirth are multifactorial.

Proposed reasons for increases in preterm birth rates include:

• Higher stress due to worry about the pandemic
• Employment or financial challenges
• Home schooling and reduced maternity services
• Less stringent fetal surveillance from reduced attendance at medical appointments for fear of infection
• Cancellation of face-to-face appointments
• Reduced staffing for maternity services

What I found most interesting is that our Minister of Health deflected the questions that MPP Elliot directed at her. Instead of answering the question, she went into the current approved script that has been touted by all governmental officials around the globe.

I appreciate MPP Elliot for asking these questions, and it is my hope that all of us begin to ask the government the hard questions and demand their answers.