Social media users have been sharing an article about an Ontario doctor resigning after claiming that 80% of patients she saw with unexplained symptoms had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Examples can be seen here and here .
The posts include a screenshot of an article from Life Site News (archived archive.is/2cleJ ) with the headline: “Ontario doctor resigns over forced vaccines, says 80% of ER patients with mysterious issues had both shots.”
Life Site News was removed from Facebook in May 2021 for violating COVID-19 policies, as reported by the Washington Post (here). Reuters Fact Check has debunked claims stemming from the website, here and here .
The article talks about Dr Rochagne Kilian, an emergency room and family practice physician, resigning over concerns about the Ontario health system and Grey Bruce Health Services (GBHS). It refers to a town hall meeting on Aug. 23, 2021, visible here .
Kilian introduces herself at the 12:00 mark and asks several questions regarding vaccination mandate exemptions, vaccines still being in trial phase and informed consent.
Dr Sunil Mehta, Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Owen Sound Hospital, Grey Bruce Health Services, told Reuters that while he is aware that Dr Kilian believes COVID-19 vaccines are still in trial phase and not safe, GBHS does not share the same viewpoint.
“Our experience at our six hospitals demonstrates that full vaccination significantly reduces severe COVID illness and hospitalization,” Mehta said.
The article leads readers to believe that Kilian said in the town hall that she estimated that 80 percent of the people she had seen in the ER during the previous month who had inexplicable symptoms were “double vaxxed.” However, she says this not in the town hall but in a podcast (archived archive.ph/0ylOk , visible here ).
At the 0:58 mark (here), Kilian says: "At least 80% of the people that came into my department in the last three months with symptoms and issues that I did not know where they come from, were double vaxxed. Which means within about three to four weeks before they came to see me, the only thing that changed in their life was that they had either the first or the second injection of this biologic."
Currently, about 80% of the eligible population in the two counties the hospital serves have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine (here) as well as between 70% and 80% of the regional population, according to Mehta.
“Like all hospitals in Ontario, our physicians are required to track and report to the Ministry of Health any adverse reactions from the COVID-19 vaccine,” Mehta said. “We have not seen any significant volume of adverse reactions since the rollout of vaccines started in our area earlier this year. “
Mehta said that Kilian resigned in late August and was no longer practicing at GBHS.
Dr Kilian could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.
Reuters Fact Check has previously debunked claims that COVID-19 vaccines are still in trial phases here and here , and that they are not safe or do not help prevent severe illness and hospitalization here and here .
VERDICT
Misleading. No data source was given by the doctor making the claim. The Ontario hospital where to doctor worked said it had not seen any significant volume of adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination since rollout began.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.