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Coronavirus Qld: Covidiots jump on CHO’s warning to spread twisted propaganda

Militant online fringe groups are using chief health officer Jeannette Young’s shock warning that young people could die from the AstraZeneca jab to spread anti-vaccination propaganda.

Doctors say politicians are driving vaccine fears: 'Mangled the message'

Militant online fringe groups are using chief health officer Jeannette Young’s shock warning that young people could die from the AstraZeneca jab to spread anti-vaccination propaganda.

As Dr Young doubled down yesterday, insisting young people could die from rare blood clots, online anti-establishment groups shared the video from Wednesday’s extraordinary press conference more than 1300 times with one person posting, “It’s so refreshing to hear someone speak the truth, & more are speaking out. Time to ban! This criminal experiment.”

Rod Culleton’s Great Australian Party shared the video, saying, “Dr Young is concerned about people dying from the vaccine“, while one Gold Coast mother posted the video saying, “Sharing again for those up the back who think it’s a good idea to vaccinate your CHILDREN with this sh**!”

Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young’s advice was clear. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled
Queensland Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young’s advice was clear. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

But Dr Young, who was accused of scaremongering and who came under fire by medical experts, denied her comments went too far.

“No I just put out the facts,” she said.

“My advice is very, very clearly that people who are 60 years of age or older should be going to the GP or a Commonwealth vaccine clinic to get AstraZeneca,” she said.

“Anyone under 60 if you’ve already had one dose of the vaccine, you need second dose of the same vaccine whether it’s Pfizer or AstraZeneca.

“If you haven’t had your first dose and you are under the age 60 and at least 16 years of age then you should be scheduling yourself as soon as it becomes available to you to get the Pfizer vaccine.”

An anti-vaxxer meme involving the Queensland Chief Health officer Jeannette Young. Picture Supplied
An anti-vaxxer meme involving the Queensland Chief Health officer Jeannette Young. Picture Supplied

Australia’s former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said Omar Khorshid of the AMA, the President of the College of GPs and himself had “distanced” themselves from Dr Young’s comments.

“She’s unfortunately out on a very lonely limb there,” he said.

“It’s very hard to sort of combat the emotional argument of the risk of death from a vaccine.

“Now, that is very hard to come back with cold, hard facts.

“But, sometimes you need to.

“And, the facts are that the risk of dying from an AstraZeneca vaccine is less than one in a million, and people need to have choice.”

Asked whether she regretted her comments, Dr Young yesterday said no and that it was the truth.

“That there is a risk that you can die from one of those rare, and they are rare blood clots, and the younger you are, the more likely it is it will happen,” she said.

“The younger you are the higher the risk.”

Anti-vaxxers leapt on this quote, totally missing the point.
Anti-vaxxers leapt on this quote, totally missing the point.

Dr Young said she had been involved in Australia’s vaccination program for 16 years.

“I have got the vaccination rate here for our little ones to five years up to 95 per cent,” she said.

“I am on the record as supporting vaccination.

“But I want the right vaccine to go to the right person.”

She said her advice was that if you are under 40, you should wait to get the Pfizer of Moderna vaccine.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk defended Dr Young, saying she was “one of the most respected health professionals in this country”.

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/coronavirus/coronavirus-qld-covidiots-jump-on-chos-warning-to-spread-twisted-propaganda/news-story/117abad07742b29599dc368c63d6e9a9