Freedom we need to fight hard for
HUNDREDS of people at Broadbeach at the weekend were keen to talk about freedom. So keen in fact that when they weren’t cheering Pauline Hanson, they kept chanting about it.
So let’s talk about freedom. Like the freedom of a child with leukaemia.
Children with leukaemia are severely immunocompromised. If there’s anything going round in the community, they are at heightened risk of catching it. Anything like Covid-19.
Adding to concerns for such patients, a French study found that mortality of children aged between one and 15 years old undergoing treatment for acute leukaemia who catch Covid-19 is around 30 per cent – many times that of the general population.
So, given vaccines are not available for under-12s, if and when Covid-19 becomes endemic in our community, the only option for such patients will be to remain indoors, avoiding contact with other people to the greatest extent possible.
Without a high level of vaccination in the wider community, this is what “freedom” could soon look like for them.
Let’s also talk about freedom for elderly
Gold Coasters living in aged care homes.
We know that older people are more severely affected by Covid-19. As was seen in Victoria last year, any incursion of the virus into aged care homes can be devastating. That’s why when there’s an outbreak, visitors are no longer allowed.
These people would be going nowhere and seeing no-one bar their carers. So much for freedom. Let’s also talk about the freedom of our healthcare staff. Their freedom to not have to wear full PPE throughout their working days. Their freedom to not be overwhelmed with a sudden influx of seriously ill patients.
Their freedom to be able to return to their loved ones after their shifts safe in the knowledge that all they are bringing home is a pay packet.
You get the drift. Freedom is not a one-way street. It is not just for individuals.
As a society, there are things we must do to preserve the safety and freedom of everyone.
Your “freedom” can inadvertently lead to someone else’s prison.
The “pro-choice” label anti-vaxxers have given themselves is also a misnomer. Immunocompromised children under 12, who cannot themselves get vaccinated, don’t get to choose. Vulnerable old people in aged care homes don’t get to choose. Healthcare staff don’t get to choose.
When people choose to take the vaccine, they are choosing not just to protect themselves, but also more vulnerable members of the community.
It’s that simple.
It was disheartening to see so many people on the Gold Coast at the weekend railing against vaccines and perfectly reasonable vaccine mandates.
It is also quite astonishing, in this columnist’s view, to see so many so-called “conservatives” rallying to their ignorant and selfish cause.
Yes, state premiers, including here in Queensland, have at times gone over the top with their harsh rules and border closures.
The fact that thousands of Queenslanders who are double vaccinated and pose little-to-no risk to the community remain marooned in northern NSW is a thundering disgrace.
But opposition to vaccination mandates is hardly the cause to die in a ditch for.
It’s bizarre to see conservatives getting to a point where they are on the same page as Nimbinites who reject western medicine and put their faith in the healing powers of magic crystals.
A virus started in a totalitarian communist state can be ended by the genius of science emanating from the capitalist system – but they reject it.
The most vulnerable in our community and hardworking healthcare workers are the ones who will ultimately pay the price.
It’s their freedom we should be fighting for.