Allison Inquiry · Unofficial Archive

Key points

1. Carrie Lynn Sakamoto, a mother of three who ran an acreage and seed business near Lethbridge, is introduced as the inquiry's first vaccine-injured witness with no prior health concerns.
2. She says she received AstraZeneca in April 2021 and a second Pfizer dose on June 18, 2021, after which she became progressively ill with fever and swollen lymph nodes.
3. She describes developing severe burning pain she calls 'fire in my brain,' vomiting, and Bell's palsy, saying hospitals repeatedly sent her home during COVID restrictions.
4. She recounts a 17-day hospital stay with facial paralysis, a paralyzed open eye requiring patching, feeding tubes, hearing loss, and having to relearn to swallow.
5. She says she now lives with the condition synkinesis, chronic burning brain pain, vertigo, and memory loss she attributes to her medication, testing as early-onset Alzheimer's.
6. She reports receiving only a partial payout from the Vaccine Injury Support Program, with medications, therapies, glasses, and hearing aids denied and her appeal ongoing after many case managers.
7. Her husband describes the family selling their farm and businesses, refinancing, and struggling financially, and she notes her mother died of cancer a year into her injury.