IMAGE: Namibia Fact Check / WhatsApp
A viral post in Namibian WhatsApp groups falsely claims a lawyer won a case in New Zealand by arguing COVID-19 vaccines were in “trial phase”.
The post was ‘Forwarded many times’ in Namibian WhatsApp groups before being forwarded to Namibia Fact Check in early November 2021. The post was also shared around in Facebook groups.
The claim appears to emanate from an Australian Facebook profile on 22 October 2021 and has since been liked 98 times, commented on 140 times and has been shared 62 times.
The post also urges lawyers that read it and that do not agree with the vaccine roll out or vaccine mandates to take up the fight to stop COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Facts
The post stemmed from the Nga Kaitiaki Tuku Ihu Medical Action Society Incorporated v The Minister of Health case which was launched in the High Court in Wellington, New Zealand.
The case was lodged by the Nga Kaitiaki Tuku Ihu Medical Action Society, a New Zealand based civil society group, against the country’s roll out of the Pfizer-BioNtech Comirnaty vaccine, which was granted provisional approval in February 2021 under the Medicines Act of New Zealand.
The case also attacked the safety and efficacy of the vaccine and it criticised the wider national and international response to COVID-19.
The findings
The judge in the case declined to issue an interim order halting the roll out of the Comirnaty vaccine. In the judgement the judge explains why she declined to issue an order halting the vaccine roll out:
“The adverse public and private repercussions of doing so are too great, by some very considerable margin. The application for interim orders must therefore be declined.”