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 TGA has acted in an effort to ensure that the public receives accurate information about adverse event reports. 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.
Information on the Database of Adverse Event Notifications cannot be used to identify whether a medicine or a vaccine is 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. Statements emphasising this are included in the Database of Adverse Event Notifications and in reports that are generated from the database. 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.
