Singapore — In a Facebook post on Thursday (Oct 28), Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party head Pritam Singh made an appeal to people who “have no medical reasons not to get vaccinated (especially seniors)” to get their questions answered by reliable sources.
“Please see your GP or a polyclinic doctor – ask your questions, and clear your doubts instead of forming your views solely based on unverified posts from WhatsApp University,” he wrote.
He then added a link to “Helpful information on vaccination” on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) website.
Mr Singh published his post less than a day after MOH announced an “unusually high” rise in infections in Singapore— an all-time single-day high of 5,324 new Covid cases.
“The infection numbers are unusually high today, mostly due to many COVID-positive cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours in the afternoon. MOH is looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days,” wrote the ministry in its Oct 27 update.
The WP chief noted that the pandemic “continues to take its toll on lives and livelihoods” even while “the overwhelming majority of residents, hawkers and proprietors have cooperated with national measures including getting vaccinated to make sure the healthcare system doesn’t buckle under the weight of serious / ICU cases.”
He added that “very large numbers of seniors have already been vaccinated and many others have got their booster shots” to prevent Singapore’s healthcare system from getting overwhelmed.
Earlier this week, a POFMA (Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act) correction order was issued against the “Truth Warriors” website due to misleading statements on the site regarding Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, including ivermectin, a horse dewormer.
The “Truth Warriors” call themselves a local community who are presenting “the other side of the COVID picture that is rarely found in conventional news channels”. Their alleged aim is to provide information that would help people in their choices in getting Covid vaccine shots, claiming to “simply offer you perspectives beyond pro-vax or anti-vax” by providing works from professionals in the field.
However, according to MOH, issuing a Correction Direction was warranted due to the untruths on the site concerning the ineffectiveness of vaccines in reducing Covid’s transmission rates as well as information about how ivermectin safe and effectively prevents viral infections and treats COVID-19.
“These materials are from unverified and dubious sources, and individuals who heed the advice of ‘Truth Warriors’ can endanger themselves and the people around them,” wrote MOH. /TISG
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