Attacks on TGA staff ‘unacceptable’

REPORTS of threats, intimidation and harassment aimed a statff from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), by anonymous anti-vaccination campaigners, are “an unacceptable development”, the Public Health Association Australia (PHAA) says.

In a statement condemning the threats against those working for the regulator, the PHAA and 31 other health bodies, voiced their support for the “vital work the TGA does to access and regulate new medicines and vaccines”.

“The TGA has a strong reputation for being expert, independent and rigorous in its assessments of new products, and is similarly rigorous in its assessment of the safety of vaccines, so as to improve and protect the health of all Australians,” the statement said.

“Another essential role of our medicines regulator is to challenge, and where necessary, prosecute those who seek to mislead the Australian public about important health information so as to pursue their own interests. This role is particularly important in the current global health crisis.

“Now is a time when Australians must have confidence in the assessments and recommendations of the TGA, and we believe Australians’ trust in the TGA is well placed.”

Speaking with The New Daily, PHAA CEO, Terry Slevin, said the TGA had become “a lightning rod for the disaffected”, with some threats apparently coming from antilockdown protesters as well as antivaxxers, with figures “in the political sphere” possibly encouraging them.

“They’re circulating mobile numbers of senior people in the organisation and encouraging their supporters to make threatening calls – they’re sending things by various channels, images involving gallows and various other ghoulish kinds of behaviour,” he said.

“Unfortunately, there’s been various efforts of people to draw attention to the responsibilities and the decisions being made by the TGA.”