TGA accuses MP Craig Kelly of ‘misleading’ public with Covid-19 vaccine texts

Australia’s medical regulator has accused Craig Kelly of breaching copyright and demanded the rogue MP stop sending unsolicited “misleading” texts about Covid-19 vaccine.

Australia’s medical regulator has accused Craig Kelly of breaching copyright and demanded the rogue MP stop sending unsolicited “misleading” texts about Covid-19 vaccine.

Lawyers for the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) have written to Mr Kelly, who is leader of the United Australia Party founded by billionaire Clive Palmer, demanding an end to the unsolicited texts.

United Australia Party’s Craig Kelly has accused the TGA of defamation after the regulator ordered him to stop sending “misleading” Covid-19 texts. Picture: Getty Images

Clive Palmer made Craig Kelly leader of his United Australia Party. Picture: Getty Images

Messages containing links the UAP claim contains information from the TGA’s own adverse event reports about the vaccines have been sent to millions of Australians in recent weeks.

In a statement the TGA said their lawyers alleged the UAP texts “breached copyright”.

The regulator subsequently demanded Mr Kelly and the party “stop distributing incomplete extracts of adverse event reports” relating to Covid-19 vaccines, which the TGA “believes could be seriously misleading”.

“The TGA has acted in an effort to ensure that the public receives accurate information about adverse event reports,” the statement said.

Text Message sent and authorised by Craig Kelly

“It is alleged that extracts were selectively taken from the Database of Adverse Event Notifications on the TGA website by the United Australia Party and used by the United Australia Party in text messages to members of the public.

“The reports are subject to copyright and the extracts distributed by the United Australia Party have removed important information about the reports and the TGA’s copyright statement.”

The TGA said information on this database could not be used to identify if a medicine or vaccine was safe, or has caused the reported adverse event or not.

“Further investigation of any adverse event report by the TGA is necessary before it can be concluded to have been related to vaccination,” the TGA said.

“The extracts disseminated by the United Australia Party excluded this important information at the beginning of the reports as well as the statement indicating that the information are subject to copyright under Australian law.”

Mr Kelly responded with his own statement on Wednesday evening claiming the letter he received from Maddocks Lawyers in Canberra on behalf of the TGA “only raised an issue of an alleged copyright infringement and nothing more”.

“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.

Originally published as TGA accuses MP Craig Kelly of ‘misleading’ public with Covid-19 vaccine texts