Why can’t Greg Hunt differentiate facts from myths?

In a recent Sky News article, Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt praised the Australian media for “dispelling concerns raised by anti-vaxxers” and for “shining a light on the myths of the anti-vaxxers”. According to Mr Hunt, “Australians are great vaccinators so I’m confident that the noise of any anti-vaxxers will be dismissed by the vast bog of Australia’s population that has a strong trust in science and medicine”.
 
Is that the same trust in science and medicine that our fellow Americans hold, resulting in pay outs of nearly $4.5 billion (and counting) to those who have suffered from adverse events as a direct result of vaccinations? Perhaps it is that the same trust in science and medicine whereby less than 1% of all adverse events as a result of vaccinations are actually reported.
 
A recent report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) began with this opening line: “Politicians and governments are suppressing science”. The report went on to say that “science is being suppressed for political and financial gain. Covid-19 has unleashed state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health. Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an emergency – a time when it is even more important to safeguard science.”
 
Despite the views of Mr Hunt, people are within their rights to raise concerns. This doesn’t make them ‘anti-vaxxers’. This makes them informed, educated and empowered people with their health and the health of their children at the forefront of their minds. People have the right to ask questions, especially when the government has signed a deal with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, who is producing a new, experimental, unproven and rushed to market mRNA vaccine. This is the same company that is being sued by the Nigerian government for $7 billion over illegal tests on children. Australia has also signed a deal with UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, who has paid $355 million in criminal and civil charges relating to illegal marketing, $198 million to settle product safety cases, $505 million in tax and accounting violations, and many millions more in pricing and anti-competitive behaviour and employment discrimination cases.
 
The British Medical Journal poses a simple, but powerful question. “How might science be safeguarded in these exceptional times?” And the answer: “The first step is full disclosure of competing interests from government, politicians, scientific advisers, and appointees, such as the heads of test and trace, diagnostic test procurement, and vaccine delivery. The next step is full transparency about decision making systems, processes, and knowing who is accountable for what.”
 
Mr Hunt continued by saying that “as the anti-vaxxers have made more noise, they’ve had less impact and that’s I think the good news”. According to a recent poll on mainstream media program A Current Affair, an overwhelming 79% of people said ‘no’ when they were asked if they would take a Covid-19 vaccine. These figures clearly oppose the assumptions of Greg Hunt.
 
The Health Minster finished off by saying that “while the government had no plans at this point in time to make the coronavirus vaccination mandatory once it receives approval”, he said they had also been “very cautious not to rule those things out”. This is following Prime Minster Scott Morrison stating that the vaccine would be as “mandatory as possible”. Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth also stated that the government would be “looking at specific things like not being able to go into restaurants, not being able to travel internationally, and not being able to catch public transport”
 
Despite what Mr Hunt says, we have the right to raise our concerns. We have the right to question policies and decisions. We should trust in science and medicine, but science and medicine should not be suppressed if it doesn’t fit the narrative. We live in a democracy, and part of living in a democracy is freedom of speech and freedom of choice. As the British Medical Journal so eloquently stated, “when good science is suppressed, people die”.
 
At Vaccine Choice Australia, we are NOT ‘anti-vaccination’. We are PRO choice. Our mission is to create an environment where vaccination choice is normal, and where coercive and divisive vaccination policy and legislation is seen as discriminatory. We are a team of passionate people who believe there is nothing more important than medical freedom. Where there is risk, there must always be choice.
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