SINGAPORE – Two males have been issued correction instructions underneath the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma) for sharing misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
They are native writer Cheah Kit Sun – who wrote a weblog publish in October titled Do Not Participate In A Society That Rejects You – and opposition celebration chief Goh Meng Seng, who shared the publish.
Each should publish correction notices on the high of every webpage or social media publish containing the false statements.
“It is essential to appropriate these falsehoods, particularly given the continued vaccine booster train,” mentioned the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a press release on Monday (Nov 29).
Mr Cheah had said that Covid-19 vaccines are “essentially the most harmful ever developed in current reminiscence”.
He additionally cited information from the United States Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (Vaers), claiming that these vaccines have induced extra critical accidents and deaths than all different vaccines mixed over the previous decade.
These claims are false, MOH mentioned, including that Covid-19 vaccines accepted to be used right here have been assessed to be secure and efficient by respected well being and scientific companies worldwide.
In Singapore, these vaccines are assessed by each the Health Sciences Authority and the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination.
As of Oct 31, simply 0.006 per cent of vaccine doses have resulted in critical accidents. No deaths have been attributed to vaccination to date.
“The advantages of receiving Covid-19 vaccines proceed to far outweigh the dangers of vaccination,” MOH mentioned.
It additionally debunked the comparability to yearly Vaers information, which is usually utilized by anti-vaccination teams as proof that helps their stance.
This is as a result of Covid-19 vaccines got to a really massive proportion of the US inhabitants. In comparability, different vaccines got to “considerably fewer” people in any given yr previous the pandemic.
The ministry mentioned it’s thus deceptive to check absolutely the variety of critical accidents and deaths ensuing from Covid-19 vaccines and different vaccines.
Secondly, there was a lot greater surveillance and consciousness of adversarial occasion reporting for Covid-19 vaccines, in contrast with different vaccines.
Lastly, Vaers information is self-reported – that means that any member of the general public might make a report back to the Vaers system with out the necessity for it to be verified.
“They usually lack particulars and typically include errors. No proof is required that the adversarial occasion or demise was attributable to the vaccine,” MOH identified.
In addition, adversarial occasions within the Vaers system needn’t be critical, and may embrace delicate uncomfortable side effects reminiscent of rashes, colds or complications.
“(Mr Cheah’s) publish has been written to falsely exaggerate the hazards of Covid-19 vaccines, and to discourage folks from taking them,” the ministry mentioned.
“If folks consider these falsehoods, there may very well be critical well being penalties for many who then stay unvaccinated.”
