MOH files police report against anti-vaccine group 'Healing the Divide' for inciting parents to disrupt vaccination centre operations

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) has lodged a police report against anti-vaccine group Healing The Divide, whose founder urged parents to disrupt operations at paediatric vaccination centres.

The ministry said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Jan 5) that it is aware the founder of the group, Ms Iris Koh, had exhorted parents through a message on its Telegram channel on Dec 27 to visit the paediatric vaccination centres to "overwhelm on-site medical staff with questions".

The Telegram channel has more than 2,700 members.

Primary 4 to 6 pupils had started receiving their jabs on Dec 27, when the first seven centres opened.

MOH said: "Such an act will greatly disrupt operations at our paediatric vaccination centres, and amount to an instigation of harassment of the medical staff.

"It is a very serious matter, and MOH has therefore made a police report."

It also urged the public to not be misled by the group, which has a history of sharing misleading information about Covid-19 and its vaccines.

MOH added that the Health Sciences Authority and other regulatory authorities around the world have approved the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine for use in children aged five to 11 after comprehensive clinical trials.

"This is no different from how other drugs have been approved for use. Designated paediatric vaccination centres have been set up islandwide to administer safe vaccinations for children," it said.

In the message on Dec 27, Ms Koh had told parents to book a vaccination slot for their child and ask to see a doctor at the vaccination centre.

She also told parents to ask questions stated in a Google Forms link and record the answers given by the doctors.

The link includes questions such as whether the doctor was aware there are recorded deaths of children who took the Pfizer vaccine overseas, and whether there are local studies to show that these vaccines are safe for children.

In November, Ms Koh and her husband, Mr Raymond Ng, were under investigation for allegedly instigating members in the Telegram channel to call and overwhelm public hotlines, including those that help the public with Covid-19 issues.

The members were told to share their feedback on the stricter Covid-19 measures for unvaccinated people in public places with the MOH Quality Service/Feedback hotline, the Ministry of Social and Family Development hotline and the National Care Hotline, which offers counselling.

That same month, its YouTube channel was removed after it was found to have violated the platform's community guidelines for posting and sharing content that perpetuated falsehoods and misleading information about Covid-19 vaccines.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.