Witnesses
EN
Allison Inquiry | Carrie Sakamoto | Day 1 September 8th, 2026
The Inquiry's first vaccine-injured witness, an Alberta mother of three, describes a burning pain in her brain, Bell's palsy, loss of swallowing and 17 days in hospital after mixing AstraZeneca and Pfizer doses. Five years later she lives with memory loss and vertigo, and says her partial compensation covers none of her treatments.
Carrie Sakamoto, the Inquiry's first vaccine-injured witness, was raising three sons on a 28-acre farm and seed business outside Lethbridge, Alberta, with no health concerns. She received AstraZeneca in April 2021 and Pfizer on June 18, 2021. She says flu-like symptoms turned into swollen lymph nodes, high fever and, after a phone-only doctor visit that diagnosed tonsil stones, what she calls fire in her brain, with vomiting. She describes being sent home from the hospital three times, once with a migraine diagnosis and once after her face dropped, before she was admitted for 17 days with facial paralysis, an eye that would not close, hearing loss, balance problems, and loss of the ability to swallow that required a feeding tube. Her children could not visit because of COVID restrictions. She lives with synkinesis, double vision, constant burning head pain, memory loss, and two types of vertigo. She says her doctors identified a vaccine injury and reported it to Ottawa, and that the Vaccine Injury Support Program approved the injury but paid only partially and denied medications, therapies, a hearing aid and glasses, leaving her in appeals and relying on donations. She describes the effect on her family, including selling their home and farm, and her husband joins her at the end to describe what the family has lost.
Carrie Sakamoto, the Inquiry's first vaccine-injured witness, was raising three sons on a 28-acre farm and seed business outside Lethbridge, Alberta, with no health concerns. She received AstraZeneca in April 2021 and Pfizer on June 18, 2021. She says flu-like symptoms turned into swollen lymph nodes, high fever and, after a phone-only doctor visit that diagnosed tonsil stones, what she calls fire in her brain, with vomiting. She describes being sent home from the hospital three times, once with a migraine diagnosis and once after her face dropped, before she was admitted for 17 days with facial paralysis, an eye that would not close, hearing loss, balance problems, and loss of the ability to swallow that required a feeding tube. Her children could not visit because of COVID restrictions. She lives with synkinesis, double vision, constant burning head pain, memory loss, and two types of vertigo. She says her doctors identified a vaccine injury and reported it to Ottawa, and that the Vaccine Injury Support Program approved the injury but paid only partially and denied medications, therapies, a hearing aid and glasses, leaving her in appeals and relying on donations. She describes the effect on her family, including selling their home and farm, and her husband joins her at the end to describe what the family has lost.
