“The majority of the cases were probed under Section 505 of the Penal Code,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today, referring to the act that deals with circulating news with intent to incite or cause fear.

Annuar said this in response to a supplementary question by Azizah Mohd Dun (Bersatu-Beaufort), who called for harsher punishment to curb the spread of fake news on vaccines.

He said 163 investigations were completed, 73 cases were brought to court, while 114 were still being probed.

He added that there had been a huge drop in negative news on vaccines and the vaccination drive compared to when the national immunisation programme was first launched in February this year.

“The level of awareness about vaccination was proof that the dissemination of such fake news did not have much impact on the public.

“But there is no denying that it is still prevalent, including among medical practitioners.”

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