Fake vaccine trial: Patient who received jab said she had no clue what she was injected with
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The patient, a prosecution witness, said she learnt she had received a saline jab instead of Sinopharm only after she was interviewed by MOH investigators.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
- Madam Mehrajunnisha testified that she was under pressure at work to receive Covid-19 vaccination.
- She visited a clinic, where she allegedly received a saline jab instead of Sinopharm.
- Three individuals face charges for allegedly falsely reporting Covid-19 vaccinations to the Health Promotion Board.
AI generated
SINGAPORE - A patient caught up in the fake Covid-19 vaccine scheme testified in court on Feb 25 that she had visited a clinic to receive a shot of Sinopharm, but had no clue what was in the syringe.
Prosecution witness Mehrajunnisha Mrs Quaide Millath said during cross-examination that she learnt she had received a saline jab instead of Sinopharm only after she was interviewed by investigators from the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Madam Mehrajunnisha, who was working as a Tamil language teacher in 2022, said she had contacted then clinic assistant Thomas Chua Cheng Soon after her employer rejected her vaccine exemption note.
She had reservations after her cardiologist told her she had a weak heart and advised her not to take the mRNA vaccines.
Madam Mehrajunnisha said she was informed by her employers that she had to get vaccinated by Jan 15, 2022, or she would not be able to work.
“When (the exemption memo) was rejected, I thought I should go ahead and take Sinopharm because I didn’t want to be absent from work.
“After the memo was rejected, I had no choice. I couldn’t find a clinic that provided Sinopharm, so I thought Thomas could provide the service,” she said, without giving details of how she knew Chua.
Chua, 43; Healing the Divide founder Iris Koh Hsiao Pei, 49; and suspended doctor Jipson Quah, 37, are facing charges over allegedly conspiring to falsely inform the Health Promotion Board that patients had received Covid-19 vaccinations, when they had not.
Madam Mehrajunnisha said Chua arranged to meet her several days before the jab, where she said he told her that there was an option to be “vaccinated but not vaccinated”.
She understood his words to mean that there was an option to take a fake vaccine, but admitted that she did not clarify as she was anxious about meeting the vaccination deadline.
On the day of her appointment on Jan 14, 2022, Madam Mehrajunnisha and her husband visited the clinic Quah ran in Chong Pang.
In a statement to MOH officers, she said Quah presented her with a box of Sinopharm vaccine and another bottle with an unknown clear liquid.
“After he showed me the bottle, I trusted what he was doing and went along with it,” she said, adding that she looked away when the injection was administered.
(From left) Thomas Chua Cheng Soon, Iris Koh Hsiao Pei and Jipson Quah, who are facing charges over allegedly conspiring to falsely inform the Health Promotion Board that patients received Covid-19 vaccinations when they had not.
ST PHOTOS: KELVIN CHNG
When asked by Quah’s lawyer, Mr Adrian Wee from Lighthouse Law, if it was fair to say that she did not know what she was injected with, Madam Mehrajunnisha replied: “I have no knowledge.”
The lawyer then highlighted two statements Madam Mehrajunnisha gave to MOH officers – the first at about 1am on Jan 21, 2022, and the second at about 11.40am on the same day.
“I am going to suggest to you that the reason you mentioned saline in your second statement is because the word saline was fed to you,” said Mr Wee, who added that this was done during the first statement.
He continued: “In reality, you don’t know and still don’t know today what was in the bottle that Quah showed you?”
Madam Mehrajunnisha agreed.
During further questioning by Mr Wee, she said she assumed she must have received a fake vaccine when MOH officers picked her up for investigations.
She said: “The officers came to my home and said I was being investigated for fake vaccine.”
When Mr Wee said it was possible that she had received a shot of Sinopharm, Madam Mehrajunnisha agreed with him.
Asked by the lawyer about a blood test that was administered to her when she was at MOH for her first interview, Madam Mehrajunnisha said she assumed it was to check if she had been vaccinated.
She added that she was never informed of her blood test results, but later received an update on her HealthHub app, which stated that she had tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies.
Madam Mehrajunnisha told Mr Wee her family members could have infected her.
Chua, who is representing himself, cross-examined Madam Mehrajunnisha later.
When he asked Madam Mehrajunnisha if he had ever told her that the vaccine was fake, she replied: “You mentioned the vaccine had side effects, and that you provided services for what I thought was a fake vaccine.”
Chua said: “That is your assumption, but did I ever tell you it was fake?” Madam Mehrajunnisha said she could not remember.
He then asked if he ever told her that the injection would contain saline, or if her vaccination records would be forged.
Madam Mehrajunnisha replied “no” to both questions.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Kelvin Chong re-examined the prosecution witness, and pointed out that she had previously told the court in September that Quah showed her the clear liquid and told her: “This is what I am going to administer.”
She said then that she understood the clear liquid was saline.
The trial continues.
