Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA’s federal chairperson, Helen Zille, has been left fuming after controversial British cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra distorted her stance on vaccinations and said she “supported” calls for a suspension of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine.
Malhotra, who faced backlash after giving a talk at the Western Cape legislature about “unsafe and ineffective” vaccines last month, made a recent post on Twitter about a presentation he gave at the Biz News conference that Zille attended.
Malhotra claimed following his presentation, Zille supported calls for the suspension of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine.
But Zille denied this.
According to her, she had been asked to speak at the conference and arrived during the morning at the end of Malhotra’s presentation, and all she heard was at the end of the question-of-answer session.
Zille added Malhotra said given the current widespread public immunity to Covid-19, and the questions being raised by medical research into the side effects of the vaccines, he was opposed to making a further round of booster vaccines mandatory.
“It sounded like a rational position. I had no idea who Dr Malhotra was. Just before my talk, he introduced himself and asked what I thought of his talk.
“I said I had only come in at the very end, but I thought his conclusion was rational and reasonable and that I opposed mandatory vaccines,” she said.
Zille added Malhotra asked her where she stood on vaccine mandates.
“I said I opposed them and that I had an open mind on the question of the risks of the vaccines. I realised they had been introduced without adequate clinical trials, and I supported research to get evidence-based facts,” she said.
Malhotra has repeatedly called for the administration of Covid-19 vaccinations to be halted.
He claimed there had been a rise in out-of-hospital heart attacks linked to the Covid mRNA vaccines and they carried a cardiovascular risk.
Following his talk at the legislature, he met several DA members, including DA leader John Steenhuisen.
The talk was arranged by Western Cape legislature deputy speaker Beverley Schäfer.
Schäfer previously said the talk with Malhotra was part of lunchtime lectures meant to enhance inter-party relationships across all levels of Parliament – the National Assembly, National Council of Provinces, and the legislature.
Zille said: “I never heard of him in my life before, and what he has presented there frankly completely misrepresents our interaction and uses my name for an agenda that I am very uncomfortable with.”
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