An Examination of the Viability of a Class Action for Adverse Events Following Covid-19 Immunizations

• Author: Logan MacLeod
• Position: Recently completed the Common Law Master of Law program at the Peter A. Allard School of Law and is an articling student with Kazlaw Injury Lawyers in Vancouver, British Columbia
• Pages: 61-90

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An Examination of the Viability of a Class Action for

Adverse Events Following COVID-19 Immunizations

Logan MacLeod

AbstrAct: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments around the

world to take extraordinary measures to mitigate the virus’s deadly impact.

These measures include the approval, procurement, and distribution of

vaccines to citizens. This paper examines the likelihood of a class action

against the Canadian federal government being certif‌ied under British

Columbia’s Class Proceedings Act, RSBC 1996, c 50 for Adverse Ef‌fects Fol-

lowing Immunization [AEFIs] caused after receiving a dose of a govern-

ment-approved vaccine. Intended as a thought experiment, this essay is

not a case study of an actual action, but rather a study of how the Act

and the courts would approach such a case, were it brought. It explores

what the proper cause of action would be, what potential class def‌inition

would be chosen, what the proposed common issues would be, and the

viability of alternative procedures for resolving claims for AEFIs. This has

been done through an examination of the currently available data relating

to the vaccine approval process, and a review of relevant jurisprudence.