Anti-vaccination leaflets sent to elderly residents in Caerleon
A leaflet spreading misinformation about coronavirus vaccines has been sent to homes in Newport.
The printed leaflet, sent to residents in Caerleon, makes numerous false claims and encourages people to question the safety and efficacy of approved vaccines.
Caerleon has a predominantly older population with the highest percentage of 65 to 74-year-olds of all the wards in Newport.
It falsely states that the vaccine is "experimental in children, pregnant women and those with any health condition".
The leaflet's author goes on to claim that the government has no data to suggest the vaccines will protect people from "becoming infected by COVID-19 or from transmitting it".
Andy Johnston, a resident of Caerleon, who received one of the letters this week said he is concerned the leaflet was targeted to mislead elderly people.
"This thing was shoved through our door I guess to try and sow seeds of doubt in people's minds that these vaccines aren't safe and they are dangerous.
"The fact it is in print shows it's clearly targeted to elderly people. It's got enough on it for it to some on the face of it to be trustworthy.
"It gives links to videos by various people like Dr Simone Gold – who was one of the people who was charged with the insurrection on the US Capitol building," said Andy.
As soon as Andy received the leaflet he said he began looking for evidence of who produced the leaflet.
"What's worrying is you can't tell who has published this."
Caerleon Councillor Jason Hughes said he was aware some people in the area had received the letter but was unsure of the scale.
He has been advising his constituents to throw the material away if it turns up at their address.
"Like all the disinformation put out there it's just deeply worrying and concerning", he said.
"There's an essential message to get through to people that we must get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible and any other message is very dangerous to be honest," said Cllr Hughes.
Wales' vaccination programme began with the arrival of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine early in December followed by the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at the beginning of January.
Dr Gillian Richardson, the co-chair of the Covid-19 vaccine programme board in Wales, said in December as with any vaccine there are potential side effects however they are extremely rare and usually minor.
"Usually they are a sore arm and occasionally a raised temperature but very serious side effects are extremely rare."And we know from the studies with the Pfizer vaccine that there are really good safety profiles including for the elderly and for those who have clinical conditions.
"So we are extremely pleased to be offering what we feel is a very safe vaccine to the Welsh population," said Dr Richardson.
According to the Public Health Wales website:
Vaccines are safe, effective and save lives.
Vaccines teach your immune system how to protect you from diseases.
It's much safer for your immune system to learn this through vaccination than by catching the diseases and attempting to treat them.
Even if you, your family or friends haven’t experienced it first hand, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a threat.
Being vaccinated will help to protect you and reduce the spread of this deadly virus.