“Lawyers for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have written to United Australia Party leader,Mr Craig Kelly MP,alleging it has breached copyright and demanding that it stop distributing incomplete extracts of adverse event reports relating to COVID-19 vaccines,which the TGA believes could be seriously misleading,” the medical regulator said in a statement.
But Mr Kelly hit back at the regulator,saying it was wasting taxpayer dollars on a “frivolous copyright allegation” and he would be seeking legal advice over the matter.
In a statement on Wednesday evening,Mr Kelly said the letter from the TGA’s lawyers did not have any reference to his text messages being false or misleading.
“The TGA’s media release is defamatory and I’m seeking urgent legal advice,as it creates a defamatory imputation that is false,” he said.
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The party,founded by Queensland billionaire Clive Palmer,has sent messages to more than 14 million phones with information about vaccines that TGA boss ProfessorJohn Skerrit said last week are misleading,as the medical regulator was preparing to take legal action against Mr Kelly over the text campaign.
The United Australia Party text message said:“Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines Adverse Events Report” and asked people to follow a hyperlink which led to a campaign website using the TGA’s logo and the Commonwealth coat of arms. The website,which looks similar to an official government website,said 448 deaths were a reported outcome following a COVID-19 vaccination.