Isabel Lucas criticises 5G network after being dropped as charity ambassador after controversial COVID-19 anti-vax comments
A day after she was dumped by a girls’ charity, Australian actor Isabel Lucas has doubled down on her anti-vax stance while taking a swipe at the 5G network.
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Isabel Lucas has doubled down on her anti-vax stance while taking a swipe at the 5G network.
It comes a day after it was revealed the former Home and Away actor was dropped as ambassador of a girl’s charity over controversial comments she made about coronavirus vaccines.
“Freedom of speech is a human right - is it a risk?” Lucas questioned on Instagram. “My family raised me to believe that it’s wise to calmly question important topics in my community. Recently I’ve been saddened to witness friends being labelled or attached for respectfully questioning and examining certain topics. Topics that are not only relevant to the potential health and safety of their own families, but to everyone on the planet.”
Lucas, 35, who played Tasha Andrews on Home and Away, then took aim at the 5G network.
“Just two weeks ago the second top trending question on Google was ‘Is 5G safe?’” she wrote. “And now Google have announced they are censoring discussions on 5G health effects. Apparently violent pornography has not been censored for our ‘protection’ though. Would it not be wise to ask, why?”
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Lucas cited a quote from brain surgeon Dr Charlie Teo stating that he sees 10 to 20 new patients each week with one third of those tumours near the brain and around the ear.
“If you don’t personally believe 5G is harmful, that’s okay but may I gently ask, what could be lost if we all paused for a moments re-evaluation?” she wrote. “If there is a possibility that a reevaluation could benefit our global health and humanit, is it not worth it?”
She concluded: “To clarify, I would never suggest covid-19 is 5G related, (some have speculated). I’d like to support cohesive, clear, calm communication that welcomes healthy questioning. When researching, may I encourage you to take into account verified independent scientific research rather than relying only on mainstream media.”
The Australian actor 35, was dumped as the face of girls’ charity Plan International Australia in the wake of her anti-vax remarks, just weeks after being appointed to the role on March 27.
News Corp revealed Lucas said she “didn’t trust the path of vaccination” in response to an Instagram post by TV chef Pete Evans, while surfer Taj Burrow, 41, also weighed in, claiming that vaccines are “not needed” to fight COVID-19.
In statement on Twitter, Plan International Australia said it was “aware of the issues and as of today, Ms Lucas and Plan Internatonal have come to a mutual agreement to end the ambassadorship”.
Meantime, Lucas clarified her comments, saying she has “concerns around 'mandatory’ vaccination, not vaccination itself,” Lucas said in a statement posted to Instagram.
She called for “cohesive, clear and calm communication around ‘mandatory’ vaccines” and “the right to freedom of choice”.
CELEBS BLASTED OVER MISINFORMED POSTS
Lucas and surfer Taj Burrow were the latest celebrities to raise the ire of medical professionals by supporting anti-vaccination messages during the coronavirus crisis.
In response to an Instagram post by Evans about the search for a COVID-19 vaccine, Lucas said she “didn’t trust the path of vaccination” while Burrow claimed vaccines were “not needed”.
Australian Medical Association federal councillor Dr Antonio Di Dio criticised the pair, saying “individuals who have a voice such as celebrities have a responsibility to use that voice appropriately at all times, but especially at a time like this”.
But Dr Di Dio also said there was a difference between what they were doing and what Mr Evans had been doing in selling a $15,000 light “Bio Charger” that he claimed could help the body fight coronavirus.
“(Ms Lucas and Mr Burrow are) not claiming to be something that they are not; they’re not claiming to be scientists or doctors or researchers or professors of medicine,” Dr Di Dio said. “What Pete Evans is doing is claiming that he has a product that works to cure coronavirus and that is a whole different level of responsibility, and carries with it a whole different burden of what he needs to prove.”
Lucas and Burrow made their comments under an Instagram post by Evans in which the My Kitchen Rules host posed a series of questions about the search for a COVID-19 vaccine.
“Freedom of choice is every humans right. I don’t trust the path of vaccination,” Lucas wrote in response.
Burrow added: “Vaccines not needed, just a good immune system”.
Dr Harry Nespolon, President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, described the comments as “extremely unhelpful”.
“It may well be a new vaccine that halts COVID-19 and saves millions of lives around the world. Vaccines are one of the great success stories of modern medicine but the rise of the anti-vaxxer trend has led to unfounded doubts about the safety of vaccinations,” he said.
“So please once again I urge people to get their health advice from healthcare professionals, not actors or surfers or models or celebrity chefs.”
Dr Di Dio expressed frustration over the persistence of anti-vaxxers, saying “they are wedded to a theory and absolutely no amount of evidence will change them”.
“The anti-vaxxers are like your father-in-law who thinks you’re a failure no matter if you become Prime Minister, because he’s wedded to that idea,” the Canberra-based GP said.
“But they only represent a very vocal minority of the population. The majority of the population are people who can be swayed by evidence,” he said.
Last week, Evans made headlines for claims that a $15,000 light “Bio Charger” he sold via his website could cure COVID-19.
“It’s programmed with about 1000 different recipes, there’s one in there for the Wuhan coronavirus,” Evans said.
The BioCharger NG device is billed as a “hybrid subtle energy revitalisation platform” that can “stimulate and invigorate the entire body to optimise and improve potential health, wellness, and athletic performance”.
The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration said it was investigating the product.
BIZARRE CLAIMS
A string of other celebrities and social media stars have been blasted for misinformed or insensitive posts about the coronavirus outbreak.
Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr was slammed for promoting the advice of a controversial “medical medium” to her 12 million Instagram followers.
Kerr pushed the “dangerous’’ and “irresponsible’’ advice of Anthony William – who has said his advice comes from “communication with gods’’ and that celery juice is a healing tonic.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners criticised Kerr for spruiking Williams’s Virus Protection guide, calling it irresponsible.
KFC heiress Kaila Methven was also criticised for spruiking an unfounded “potential COVID-19 remedy”.
Writing to her 1.6 million Instagram followers, Methven suggested “Nigella sativa” – a herbal, fennel flower remedy – was being used by “a large network of friends in Paris who have reported using Nigella sativa to great success to combat the symptoms of COVID-19”.
“I am not a doctor, but I am doing my best to get Nigella sativa in front of the FDA for testing as it could save 1000s of lives and prevent the overcrowding of our hospitals.
“I believe we must exhaust all avenues, and Nigella sativa is a remedy being used to great success to curb the virus but is not widely known outside of the Arabic community,” she wrote in a lengthy caption on Instagram.
“I feel it is my duty to bring awareness to this potential remedy to the wider community. I want to help save everyone — this could change the lives of millions of people!”
INSENSITIVE POSTS
In another disturbing Instagram trend, influencers were dragged over insensitive posts during the pandemic.
Iraqi makeup influencer Fatima Aldewan – who has 80,000 Instagram followers – was branded “disrespectful” for posting a coronavirus-inspired beauty tutorial on Instagram.
A string of Insta models raised eyebrows when they posed in DIY bikinis made of facial masks and other PPE medical supplies.
A US Bachelor contestant was criticised for posting photos that appeared to flout California’s tough ‘safer at home’ policy.
Hannah Ann Sluss insisted the post in question – of her sitting at a Los Angeles cafe – was old and taken before COVID-19.
Sluss won the most recent season of America’s The Bachelor, before being dumped two months into her engagement to Peter Weber.
Originally published as Isabel Lucas criticises 5G network after being dropped as charity ambassador after controversial COVID-19 anti-vax comments
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