[00:00:00]

Shawn Buckley
Our last witness of the day is Jennifer Curry. Jennifer, can you state your full name, spelling your first and last name?

Jennifer Curry
My name is Jennifer Curry, Jennifer Lynne Curry, J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R-C-U-R-R-Y.

Shawn Buckley
And Jennifer, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?

Jennifer Curry
I do.

Shawn Buckley
Jennifer, you are nervous on the stand today.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
And the nervousness is part of your story isnÕt it.

Jennifer Curry
It is, yeah.
Shawn Buckley
You used to work in the oil patch, you were a safety representative, you would basically lecture up to 400 people at a time and not be nervous.

Jennifer Curry
No. I knew what my job was.

Shawn Buckley
Right, okay. So I just want people to understand that when youÕre nervous today, thatÕs part of your story. You used to be able to present in front of people without being nervous.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

ShawnBuckley
You are an assistant manager at a bar?

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
And you also have a cleaning contract for a building for Service Canada?

Jennifer Curry
I do.

ShawnBuckley
And itÕs because you were a federal employee that was part of why you decided to get vaccinated.

Jennifer Curry
Yes.

ShawnBuckley
Can you tell us what was going through your mind before you were vaccinated? Because my understanding is that you had a lot of anxiety about it.

Jennifer Curry
I did. I have a couple of nurse friends. One of them had tried to tell me not to take it, and she was scared for me. I had another friend that worked in the hospital and says, ÒTry to get it, Jen, because thereÕs people that are hurt.Ó I felt pulled from both sides. I didnÕt want to get the shots because I was scared. IÕm not scared. I was terrified.
Shawn Buckley
Okay, and now at the end of the day, why did you get it then?

Jennifer Curry
I wanted to travel with my family. I couldnÕt think of another job that would pay as good as this jobÑthat I had to get rid ofÑto keep that pay, I would have had to completely change my career. I would have had to find a babysitter for my daughter. This job allowed me to pay my bills and pick up my kid from school. And it was very important that thatÕs a big part of my life, of spending time with my child.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, so thatÕs the federal job with Service Canada.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

ShawnBuckley
So it paid well, and it gave you a lot of flexibility as a mother.

Jennifer Curry
It sure did.

ShawnBuckley
Okay, so really it was for employment purposes that you decided to get the shot.

Jennifer Curry
It is, yeah.

Shawn Buckley
So my understanding is it was in October of Õ21, October 23rd, you get your first dose of the Pfizer vaccine?

Jennifer Curry
I did, yeah.

ShawnBuckley
Can you share with us what happened afterwards?

Jennifer Curry
We went through a drive-through centre in Swift Current, where you have a van: door pulls up, you pull your car in, and you donÕt even have to get out. And they come over. You sign your paper. Tell you what could happen. If you have problems, come back.
Shawn Buckley
So do you recall what they told you could happen?

Jennifer Curry
It could be an anaphylactic shock, allergy, or it could beÑ Some people have problems with anxiety, so it could have had variable issues that I could have been dealing with. And they let me know that to stick around for a bit afterwards.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, so carry on.

Jennifer Curry
My partner and I decided to leave about 15 minutes after I had the shot. We felt okay. I was driving home, and a couple blocks away from home, my face started to feel tingly and I slowed down. And my honey was, ÒWhatÕs going on?Ó I said ÒSomethingÕs wrong with my face,Ó and I said, ÒI donÕt know.Ó And I had such numbness by the time I got home. So within five blocks, my whole face went numb. And then it started to get itchy. And that night I had to tell myself that IÕm going to be okay. And I was so scared because nobody could tell me what was going on.

Shawn Buckley
So when you say your face was numb, can you describe for us what that was like?

Jennifer Curry
Very much so. So youÕre at the dentist, and you get your shot. And youÕre coming out of the dentist and you sort of feel it a little bit, but itÕs still puffy and swollen. And you can touch it but it doesnÕt feel like youÕre touching your face. And it was itchy because it was tingling, kind of like you were sleeping on it with your foot.

Shawn Buckley
Right, okay. So youÕve got this face thatÕs numb. Is there anything else going on that first night?

Jennifer Curry
I started to get itchy at about right after supper time. The itching started to be more all over the body. I started to feel tightness all over and fullness, like my body was puffy. I had a hard time sleeping that night because I felt like things were crawling on me. I thought there was a hair on me,

[00:05:00]

and I made people look to make sure that I didnÕt have a bug on me. The scratching gave me so much anxiety because I felt like I looked like a freak. And I lost work because I had to stay home because all I could do is scratch.

Shawn Buckley
So literally youÕre scratching yourself so much that youÕre marking yourself up.

Jennifer Curry
I did.

ShawnBuckley
And so it would then be too embarrassing for you to leave the house.

Jennifer Curry
When I put on a facemask, it would activate the numbness more, and it would be itchy. So I couldnÕt even wear a mask to my bar. I couldnÕt wear a mask. It made me feel like I wanted toÑpardon my sayingÑrip my face off. It was that bad.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. And when youÕre describing about things crawling on you, you use the word bug. So at times it literally feels like thereÕs bugs crawling on your body?

Jennifer Curry
Yes.

Shawn Buckley
Was that just a single part of your body or was thatÑ

Jennifer Curry
All over. There was one time at work, I couldnÕt get my gloves off, and I had a scratch. And I know that the scratches, if you do get themÑ TheyÕll be okay, but if you donÕt, theyÕll start to crawl. And one of the scratches was on my eye. And I couldnÕt get my glove off and the scratch went behind my eye. And I almost wanted to stick my finger in there and rip it out because it was so, so much!

Shawn Buckley
I think weÕll just slow this down a little bit because I think that some people donÕt understand what you mean that the scratch will move. So can you just kind of slow it down, and explain what you mean, and then go back to the story about the eye?

Jennifer Curry
Okay. So the itching that I would feel would make me think that thereÕs something crawling, so I would start to scratch it. It would be in the same place mostly, but then it would move. Always though my face would be itchy all the time. So if I didnÕt try to stop scratching my face, and put socks on my hands, and took a lot of the allergy pills that I was given; but they werenÕt working. I didnÕt know if it was an allergy or not.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, so when youÕre telling us that story at the bar. So youÕre wearing gloves, and you start to get an itch close to your eye but itÕs moving. If you donÕt scratch before it moves, the itch will just keep moving.

Jennifer Curry
And grow, yeah.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, and so that itch goes behind your eyeÑ

Jennifer Curry
Yeah, it did.

Shawn Buckley
Ñand so you canÕt scratch it. What was that experience like?

Jennifer Curry
My bosses were in the other side of the bar and they heard me crying. And I had to tell them what happened and if I could go home. They could tell that I was very distraught. I couldnÕt stop crying that day. It was pretty bad. That was the day I phoned 8-1-1.

Shawn Buckley
Right and thatÕs about three days after yourÑ

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
So you find that youÕre so distraught, youÕre crying at work in the bar.

Jennifer Curry
Mm-hmm.

Shawn Buckley
Had that type of thing ever happened to you before?

Jennifer Curry
No.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, and the reason IÕm asking that question is just so that the commissioners understand that the mental anxiety is brand new.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
So you didnÕt have anything like that before the first shot?

Jennifer Curry
No.

ShawnBuckley
So that in itself is a new experience in reaction to the shot?

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. So you told us that you ended up calling for help. Tell us what happened.

Jennifer Curry
The ladies on 811 were very concerned. They asked me what shots that I took, what my symptoms were? And they were very concerned when I told them that my whole body was numb. And they said that I need to go to the emergency. And if I would like to go right away, that they would call an ambulance. And I said, ÒNo, IÕm okay. I can go.Ó But it was them that told me to go. I wasnÕt sure.

Shawn Buckley
And I just want you to also share with us because you described your face being numb, but you would experience numbness over your entire body.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah, I had. When IÕm cleaning sometimes, IÕll put my phone up in my shirt so it doesnÕt fall out. And I had pinched the side of my breasts, and I didnÕt feel it. And thatÕs how I knew that it was going down all the way to my feet. And I started touching my body everywhere and I got really scared because I thought it was going to go away and not get worse.

Shawn Buckley
At the hospital they basically told you that this was just an allergic response?

Jennifer Curry
They could see that my anxiety was very high. They assured me that some of this could be anxiety.

[00:10:00]

That I could be making myself numb, or I could be doing this. So I didnÕt know how to retaliate to someone telling me whatÕs wrong with me, if they didnÕt listen to me. I just didnÕt feel like they were.

Shawn Buckley
Okay, and youÕre having an experience like you have never had before in your life.

Jennifer Curry
No.

Shawn Buckley
And somebodyÕs telling you that itÕs just caused by anxiety. Right?

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
And you were feeling anxious, but you had never had an issue with anxiety before.

Jennifer Curry
Not like this. No.

Shawn Buckley
Right. Okay. So youÕd felt that you werenÕt being listened to.

Jennifer Curry
No.

Shawn Buckley
So what happened? You did leave the hospital. Did the symptoms persist?

Jennifer Curry
Very much so. By day seven you could start to see the scratches all over my face. And the cognitive, the memory, started to get kind of shaky here and there. I wasnÕt able to remember things anymore. And it was a lot of stress, a lot of troubles.

Shawn Buckley
Can you give us some examples about the memory issues?

Jennifer Curry
As a waitress or a bartender at a bar, it is very essential to be able to remember prices and drinks, and how many in a row, and fancy frou-frou things on the cups and stuff. I would walk up to a table of ten people, not a problem, and write down, not even write down their drinks, but just put it in here. And now I walk up to a table of four with a pen and pad because I donÕt think IÕm going to remember by the time I get back to the bar.

Shawn Buckley
So a significant change in your memory.

Jennifer Curry
Significantly.

Shawn Buckley
Right. You ended up getting your second shot on November 13th, 2021.

Jennifer Curry
Mm-hmm.

Shawn Buckley
Why did you get your second shot, being that you had had so much trouble after the first shot?

Jennifer Curry
Thank you for asking that question because a lot of people did. I was feeling so much stress, so much itchiness, so much anxiety, so much segregation from my family for making me feel that I was crazy, that if I took that second shot and it made me worse, that it would be okay if I died because I wouldnÕt be suffering anymore. And I wouldnÕt hate myself for wrecking my life. So if I had the shot, it didnÕt matter cause I was already hurt, and if I died then I wouldnÕt be scratching my face off anymore. Sorry to say that.

Shawn Buckley
So youÕre actually inÑ A part of you was hoping that the shot would kill you.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah. Everybody told me that it was in my head, and that I needed to just waitÑcalm downÑit would get better. And it never did. And I had to deal with that, and people that made me feel less of myself.

Shawn Buckley
Now, what happened after the second shot?

Jennifer Curry
I had to take the second shot at the hospital, and I had a triage nurse ask me questions. It was crazy. SheÕs like ÒWell, why are you getting your second shot?Ó She goes ÒYou have symptoms or you had symptoms?Ó I say, ÒNo, IÕm having symptoms.Ó I say, ÒMy face is numb right now.Ó And she was really ÒWhy are you getting your second shot?Ó I said ÒNo one will give me an exemption.Ó So while I had the second shot sitting there, the effects didnÕt happen as fast as the first one.

Shawn Buckley
IÕll just stop, because I realized that you had attended at a walk-in clinic, and Dr. Savoy would not give you an exemption.

Jennifer Curry
No, she didnÕt.

Shawn Buckley
So there was a couple of things going on. Part of you wanted an exemption, and part of you wanted to get the shot, basically to end your suffering.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
Okay. And IÕm sorry I interrupted. So you get the shot at the hospital and youÕre starting to describe for us what happened.

Jennifer Curry
They gave me a period of about 45 minutes to make sure that I didnÕt have any anaphylactic shock or any other troubles or get worse. I thanked them for their time, and I got out. As I was driving home, my body started to feel stiff and numb a little bit again. And then the anxiety set in. So how much was the anxiety? How much was the shot? Everything all happened all over again. A week of home from work. And I couldnÕt stop scratching again,

[00:15:00]

and I hoped that it would go away.

Shawn Buckley
Right, okay. So itÕs the same symptoms, but itÕs theyÕre actually stronger this time arenÕt they?

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
So you had the numbness again?

Jennifer Curry
I did. It was right away. Stress can do a number on peopleÕs bodies. I didnÕt know if I did it to myself when I was struggling with the answers that I was getting.

Shawn Buckley
Right. Your itching is back.

Jennifer Curry
It was, yeah.

Shawn Buckley
It never really left, but it was stronger now.

Jennifer Curry
It wasÑ I remember standing in the shower crying because the droplets of water were making me itch. And I didnÕt know what to do because I needed a shower. And my honey came in, and he twisted the things, it was less pressure and I could actually have a shower without crying. It was so detrimental to my soul that it was wrong. And I was having problems and nobody, nobody really listened. It was really hard. The scratching on my face. I wanted to rip my face off. I wanted to shave my head so I wouldnÕt feel any hair touch it. ItÕs an immeasurable amount ofÑ I donÕt know, it was awful. It still is.

Shawn Buckley
And what about your memory and your ability to think?

Jennifer Curry
My cognitive has slowed down big time. I will have a conversation sometimes with someone and then IÕll forget where it was going to or what it was leading to. And I will have to get them to repeat themselves so I can remember what I was trying to tell them. I have toÑ I have missed my little girlÕs Òmuffin-readÓ thing at school because I forgot all about it. I have to have stuff, sticky notes, everywhere just to remind myself. And for my job right now, I worry that: Did I get all the garbage cans? Did I wash that one spot on the sink that I always forget? My memory has affected me now, very much so.

Shawn Buckley
And so you find you have to go like at work, go and check. Did you clean this? Because you canÕt remember even though you had.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah, yeah. I make lists now so that I donÕt forget things.

Shawn Buckley
So this has had a tremendous impact on your mental health: your mental stability.

Jennifer Curry
It is.

Shawn Buckley
And then, what about the anxiety that started after the first shot? How has that been after the second?

Jennifer Curry
I had a doctor. I think it was eight weeks after the November 13th shot. And I was crying when I went to him because it seems like there was a period of quietness. IÕve always been numb right from day one, but there were times where it wasnÕt so bad. But I had a flare or something. I didnÕt know what it was, and thatÕs what sent me back to the doctor. And he was the one that was concerned, and ÒWhat do you mean your face is numb? Let me see. Are you okay?Ó And heÕs the one that sent me to the neurologist. It was at that point where if someone didnÕt listen to me, I was going to start screaming at everybody. IÕm sorry if that was the wrong question. Did I answer that for you?

Shawn Buckley
No, no, you were answering it just fine. So you ended up going to the hospital.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
And the doctor was surprised that you were describing having a numb face.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah, for that long as well. Because anxiety can make people have numbness. But I was numb for three months.

Shawn Buckley
How has this affected your energy levels?

Jennifer Curry
ThatÕs a big question for me because I am a very physical person. IÕm a tomboy. IÕm a farm kid. I used to work in the oil field picking up 200-pound men and dragging around the corner if they bugged me. I canÕt pick up a couple cases of beer now without stopping and having a break. Every single step I take on a stair, I have to make sure IÕm stepping right. And I have to stop, if thereÕs many stairs. IÕm tired a lot, and I like to sleep at home, and itÕs hard.

Shawn Buckley
Now, youÕre actually counting the days. Can you tell us how many days that youÕve been suffering?

Jennifer Curry
Five hundred and nineteen today.

Shawn Buckley
And why are you counting the days?

Jennifer Curry
That was the day that I changed my life. I had a choice. And I didnÕt say no. I didnÕt fight.

[00:20:00]

And thatÕs when everything changed; itÕs never going to be the same again.

Shawn Buckley
Are the doctors giving you any hope?

Jennifer Curry
Yes. They have given me a couple of MRIs [Magnetic Resonance Imaging], which led me down to the road to more neurologists and a lumbar test. They werenÕt sure how to deal with me after several trips back to the hospital. They had put me in contact with an MS [Multiple Sclerosis] clinic because I was showing signs of MS. And I was waiting for them to investigate more and do some more tests.

Shawn Buckley
And can you describe for us the symptoms that they were thinking suggested MS?

Jennifer Curry
ThereÕs about eight symptoms that can be from MS. Cognitive is a big one, numbness, energy, loss of bowels, thatÕs not fun, that one. Stiffness of the leg as well, double vision, blurry vision. Hot areas will make a person feel dizzy. So thereÕs dizziness.

Shawn Buckley
But those arenÕt symptoms that you have.

Jennifer Curry
I have all of those.

Shawn Buckley
Oh, you have all of those, okay.

Jennifer Curry
I do. Yeah.

Shawn Buckley
So how has this experience made you feel?

Jennifer Curry
I have stopped hanging out with my family. Sometimes thereÕs been a family reunion I missed because of this. Because I didnÕt want to talk about it. Because so many people would tell me thatÑthis is very hard to talk aboutÑso many people told me that it is just somethingÑ ÒYouÕre going to be okay.Ó I tried to tell them IÕm not.

Dealing with what IÕm dealing now, I am very grateful to be here to share my story. So that the people that I couldnÕt talk to because I was scared, that youÕre going to find out this way what IÕm dealing with. And I feel 100 percent better talking to you people in the last two weeks. You have made me feel so much better. Thank you.

Shawn Buckley
Those are the questions that I have here, Jennifer. IÕll ask if the commissioners have any questions.

Commissioner Massie
Thank you very much for your very touching testimony.

Jennifer Curry
Thank you.

Commissioner Massie
Just to make sure I understand, you decided to get the second shot to convince yourself that you were not imagining things, that it was really due to the vaccine.

Jennifer Curry
I do.

Commissioner Massie
So you could actually make the case to people around you that were more or less saying that youÕre not really sick, youÕre just anxious, and youÕre making yourself sick.

Jennifer Curry
Yeah.

Commissioner Massie
Did you have an issue with anxiety before?

Jennifer Curry
No. IÕve seen a lot of things in my lifetime, and IÕve dealt with them very well. Dealing with something that was going against what I believed in broke me. And then when it did break me, it broke me because I knew.

Commissioner Massie
So why do you think that people around you had to really come up with the story in that? The reason why you were experiencing the symptoms was due to your anxiety; that it has nothing physical linked to the vaccine?

Jennifer Curry
Yeah. A lot of people in this whole world would say that the vaccines were good. That they believe thereÕs not that many people that are getting hurt from it.

Can you repeat the question? IÕm sorry.

Commissioner Massie
So yeah, my question isÑ Maybe I can rephrase what I was going to say because IÕm trying to wrap my head around your situation. You were not anxious before. Now the situation creates a lot of anxiety because you experience physical symptoms. What do the physical symptoms or consequences of your anxiety, or theyÕre coming from some other condition that we donÕt knowÑ at the end of the day, because you didnÕt have these symptoms beforeÑ

[00:25:00]

why couldnÕt people see that there is a link with the vaccine?

Jennifer Curry
I believe that because people were scared to say the shot did it. That a lot of people like myself got pushed aside, so to speak. That we didnÕt get that recognition or validation that we were injured because the people that we were dealing with, doctors and nurses, werenÕt able to help us if they wanted to. I think their job was important, and they needed their job as well. So helping me out and telling me that this could be from the shot would make them have to write a report. And I think that thatÕs why no one did. No one wanted to put their selves aside and say she was hurt because the symptoms were so all-over that they really werenÕt sure what it was.

Commissioner Massie
So are you improving a little bit, your health condition, or is it stable?

Jennifer Curry
On March 23rd, I was diagnosed with MS. And I know that many people listening and many people have told me that MS isnÕt caused by a shot. I would say that it never created itÑbut it did causeÑthe shot. I believe that I had anxiety, and I was so scared that I made my body go into a system of scaredness. I also looked into what the mRNAÕs [Messenger Ribonucleic Acid] job was, and it was to teach my immune system to fight. If you look up what MS is: your immune system is fighting itself. Maybe my connections got crossed. Certainly 17 minutes after my shot, IÕm for sure going to think that it was a COVID shot that did it. I have to. I have never had any of these symptoms before in my life.

Commissioner Massie
Thank you very much for your testimony.

Jennifer Curry
Thank you.

Shawn Buckley
Jennifer there being no further questions from the commissioners, on behalf of the National Citizens Inquiry, we sincerely thank you for coming and testifying and sharing your story with us today.

Jennifer Curry
IÕm honoured to be here and IÕm happy to be a part of this. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

[00:27:36]

Final Review and Approval: Anna Cairns, August 30, 2023.

The evidence offered in this transcript is a true and faithful record of witness testimony given during the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) hearings. The transcript was prepared by members of a team of volunteers using an Òintelligent verbatimÓ transcription method.

For further information on the transcription process, method, and team, see the NCI website: https://ncimk2.datafield.ca/about-these-transcripts/

Summary

Jennifer Curry was an energetic, strong, confident young mother and professional. She is now an assistant manager at a bar and has a cleaning contract for a Service Canada building. Ms. Curry got vaccinated because as a federal employee it was mandated and couldn’t afford to lose her job.

She received her first dose of Pfizer on October 23, 2021 and was told that reactions could include anaphylactic shock, allergy, or anxiety. She and her partner waited 15 minutes and on her way home, her whole face went numb and itchy. Later that evening, her entire body became itchy and felt puffy. About three days post-vaccination, she phoned 811 and was told to go to the emergency, where she was told it was an allergic reaction potentially caused by anxiety. Ms. Curry felt that she was not being listened to. By day seven she started having difficulty with memory to the point that it affected her job performance.

She was unable to obtain an exemption from a second shot, which she received at the hospital November 13th, 2021. She was feeling so much stress, itchiness, anxiety and segregation from her family for making her feel that she was crazy. She reasoned that if second shot made her worse, that it would be okay if she died because she wouldn’t be suffering anymore.

The effects from the second shot started after about 45 minutes and were more severe, so she lost a week of work. She struggled immensely with the itching and the memory loss, resulting in poor mental health. About 8 weeks later she went back to the doctor as her face was still numb; he sent her to a neurologist. She has, as of March 23, 2023, been diagnosed with MS. She believes it is connected to the vaccine.

This experience has caused her anxiety, loneliness, and frustration that no family, friends co-workers and medical staff truly listened to her, nor did they believe her suffering was related to if not caused by the vaccine. She thinks people were afraid that if they conceded the shot did it, they would jeopardize their own jobs, reputations, and relationships.