FREEDOM DAY OR APARTHEID DAY?

“I see it as a day of freedom, it’s a freedom day.”
 
These were the prophetic words of NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Monday 11 October 2021 as Sydney began to emerge from lockdown.
 
Restaurants, cafes, gyms and retails stores welcomed back customers after nearly four months of restrictions, whilst more people were allowed to gather at homes and attend weddings and funerals.
 
However, ‘Freedom Day’ came with a catch. It was for the vaccinated only.
 
Which begs the question… How free are we if we have put an experimental product in our body to attain ‘freedom’?
 
Whilst the vaccinated were out enjoying a beer, having lunch, or hitting the gym, the unvaccinated were locked up at work or home under the same draconian measures they have had to endure for months on end.
 
According to the website History, “Apartheid (“apartness” in the language of Afrikaans) was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa”.
 
“Under apartheid, non-white South Africans (a majority of the population) would be forced to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups would be limited. Despite strong and consistent opposition to apartheid within and outside of South Africa, its laws remained in effect for the better part of 50 years.”
 
Sound familiar? Let’s substitute ‘non-white’ with ‘unvaccinated’ for a moment.
 
Apartheid was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against unvaccinated citizens of Australia. Under apartheid, unvaccinated Australians would be forced to live in separate areas from the vaccinated and use separate public facilities. Contact between the two groups would be limited.
 
Prior to resigning as premier of NSW, Gladys Berejiklian stated that she did not want to be “anywhere with someone who’s not vaccinated”. Ms Berejiklian is in effect advocating for apartheid in Australia.
 
The NSW government has opened up to vaccinated residents after reaching their vaccination target of 70%. Further easing will occur when the state reaches the magical 80% vaccination rate.
 
Let’s see how one of the most vaccinated countries in the world is going after reaching this target.
 
Singapore has 83% of it’s eligible population (12 years and older) fully vaccinated. Another 2% have been partially vaccinated.
 
In 2020, 29 people lost their lives to COVID-19. In 2021, that number has skyrocketed. At the time of writing, and with two and a half months of the year remaining, 133 people have died.
 
Singapore began their vaccine rollout at the end of last year. With a vaccine, there has been 4.5 times more deaths. If the vaccine was working, shouldn’t this be the other way around?
 
Currently, 60% of those in hospital, 40% of those of oxygen supplementation, and 35% in ICU are fully vaccinated. Singapore has a 7-day average of 3,303 cases a day. In 2020, the peak 7-day average was 1,005 cases on 26 April.
 
Singapore has had some of the harshest restrictions out of any country in the world. Permanent mask mandates from March last year, maximum social gatherings of 8 people (currently it’s 2 people), a 10:30pm alcohol curfew meaning restaurants and cafes must close at this time, nightclubs have yet to re-open, and some of the strictest contact tracing and isolation in the world.
 
Despite all of these measures, Singapore has been unable to contain the virus. The city state reached their vaccine target of 80% on 29 August. The next day they recorded 288 cases and it has risen exponentially ever since.
 
A study in the European Journal of Epidemiology concluded that “at the country-level, there appears to be no discernible relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days”.
 
“In fact, the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people. Notably, Israel with over 60% of their population fully vaccinated had the highest COVID-19 cases per 1 million people in the last 7 days.”
 
“The lack of a meaningful association between percentage population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases is further exemplified, for instance, by comparison of Iceland and Portugal. Both countries have over 75% of their population fully vaccinated and have more COVID-19 cases per 1 million people than countries such as Vietnam and South Africa that have around 10% of their population fully vaccinated.”
 
“In summary, even as efforts should be made to encourage populations to get vaccinated it should be done so with humility and respect. Stigmatizing populations can do more harm than good.”
 
Yet, the state and territory governments continue to push the narrative that the vaccine is the ‘only way out’. Clearly, that assumption is flawed at best.
 
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.” These are the famous words of former US President Ronald Reagan.
 
For those who think that freedom is achieved by injecting a synthetic product into their body with no long term safety data, then unfortunately, they don’t understand what freedom truly is.
 
We are born free. We don’t get freedom. We only give it up.
 
The 11th of October 2021 will not be known as ‘freedom day’. It will be known as the day apartheid began.
 
However, we have the chance to correct this dangerous path we are heading down. We have the chance to unite and be all inclusive. Choosing to vaccinate is exactly that. A choice. Each person has the right to choose if they vaccinate themselves or not.
 
What we don’t have the right to do is discriminate against those who choose not to vaccinate. This is their choice, and they deserve just as much freedom as people who are vaccinated. Especially as the vaccine does not prevent transmission.
 
Perhaps the unvaccinated already have more freedom. They are already choosing to be free. They are choosing to stand in their power and not give up their bodily autonomy. They are choosing to live by their values.
 
This is true freedom.

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