Subang Jaya Medical Center said today that one of its doctors has filed a police report against an Instagram user who named him in a false allegation that Malaysian athlete Haziq Kamaruddin could have died due to a COVID-19 vaccine.
The private hospital in Selangor responded to the viral video by Instagram user Aqila Yusri today, refuting her claims on Saturday that the institution and one of its doctors were the sources of her misinformation. The 25-year-old had alleged in a video rant that the government was keeping secrets from the public and that the cause of the national archer’s death was due to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“With regard to this matter, Subang Jaya Medical Centre (SJMC) would like to firmly state that we do not condone any social media posts and information on vaccination that are misleading to the public when there is an urgent need for vaccination take-up in Malaysia,” its statement said.
Haziq, who competed in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic games, died at the age of 27 on May 14 due to a blocked coronary artery. His death came days after he completed his Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination, which was confirmed by health authorities to be unrelated to his demise.
Aqila said that she had gotten her information from her mother and a doctor named Vigneswaren Ponnudurai, who also worked at a separate healthcare facility, according to the hospital. The doctor has also confirmed with the hospital that he had said no such thing, the statement added.
“[Vigneswaren] has made a police report against all the parties mentioned in the social media posts by the Instagram user, who has now apologised for her actions,” it said.
Aqila on Sunday apologized to her 6,000 followers for sharing unverified information. She faces a RM50,000 (USD$12,000) fine and a one-year jail sentence if the police find her guilty of sharing fake news.
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