Allison Inquiry | Shannon Holmes | Day 4 September 11th, 2026

Shannon Holmes, 50, a mother of two daughters, was a movement therapist teaching Pilates and yoga and doing Thai massage, specializing in clients with neurological conditions, working six days a week and walking 5 to 17 kilometres a day. She has an autoimmune condition that was well managed and says she never had COVID.

After a first Pfizer dose with a sore arm, she received the second on August 27, 2021 at a hospital clinic and, because of her autoimmune condition, waited 30 minutes, during which she developed painful vibrating and tingling from her thighs to her feet. She says a doctor told her she was a giant medical question mark, did no tests and sent her home. That night she says she had violent electric-shock-like episodes that threw her body around the bed, clothes that felt like burning, a stabbing back pain, a choking sensation and an inability to eat, and a friend called an ambulance the next day.

She shows a video of a mild episode and says they continue today. Holmes says an emergency doctor told her to pick one issue, that morphine did nothing, and that 12 to 15 specialist referrals were rejected, some because she was called a long hauler. She says her doctor diagnosed vaccine-induced long COVID, with all three types of POTS, ME/CFS, functional neurological disorder and mast cell activation syndrome. She describes daily pain, post-exertion malaise, not being able to go out alone, brain fog, and daughters who now help with cooking and cleaning. She says a hospital ketamine program helped her neurological symptoms but she can no longer afford it. MPs thank her.

Recorded at the Allison Inquiry, Day 4, September 11th, 2026. For more information, including the full list of witnesses and experts, go to allisoninquiry.com.

0:00 Swearing in
0:21 Introduction and diagnosis
0:58 Background: movement therapist
2:14 The second dose and the 30-minute wait
3:07 Told she was a ""medical question mark""
4:26 Home: the first night
5:39 Electric-shock-like episodes
7:00 Back and neck pain
7:59 Video of an episode
9:23 Unable to eat, and the ambulance
10:16 Emergency room
11:31 Post-exertion malaise
12:02 Living today
12:54 Emergency: ""pick one""
14:00 Referrals rejected
15:24 Her diagnoses
16:00 MP question: effect on her family
17:35 Trying to find specialist help
19:09 The ketamine program and its cost
20:28 Closing