Yahoo Finance Pofma orders issued on Facebook posts regarding COVID-19 vaccines by Goh Meng Seng
SINGAPORE — Correction orders under the Protection From Online Falsehoods And Manipulation Act (Pofma) have been issued over false allegations that COVID-19 vaccines have causal links with stroke and heart attack, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday (15 April).
The correction directions were issued on posts published on the Facebook pages of "Goh Meng Seng (Satu Singapura)" and "Goh Meng Seng People’s Power Party" on 2 April and 7 April, as well as an article by Singapore Uncensored published on its website and Facebook page on 7 April 2021. Goh is the founder of the opposition party PPP.
The Pofma office was instructed by the Health Minister to issue the directions, the health ministry said in a press release.
MOH said the posts published on Goh's Facebook pages on 2 April implied that "COVID-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to a stroke suffered by a doctor".
The posts published on his Facebook pages on 7 April implied that "COVID-19 vaccination had caused or substantially contributed to the death of an 81-year-old man", it added.
Meanwhile, the article published by Singapore Uncensored on 7 April stated that "an 81-year-old man had passed away from alleged vaccination complications".
MOH said the allegations are false. "As of 14 April 2021, there is no credible evidence for an increased risk of heart attack or stroke with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines which are currently approved and offered in Singapore," it added.
The doctor's current condition was assessed to be "highly unlikely to be related to the COVID-19 vaccination"," said MOH.
In the separate case of the 81-year-old man, MOH said the cause of death was ischaemic heart disease, or lack of blood circulation to the heart muscles.
"The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) Forensic Medicine Division has reported that based on the post-mortem, there was no evidence of acute anaphylaxis or an allergic reaction at the injection site of the COVID-19 vaccine. There was extensive narrowing of the three main blood vessels supplying blood to the muscles of the heart due to atherosclerosis (build up of plaques over time in the blood vessels that obstruct blood flow)," MOH said.
Yahoo News Singapore sent queries to MOH on 7 April regarding the allegations about the man’s death in two Facebook posts, but has yet to receive a response.
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