Tin Can Bay resident’s false claims students were being forcibly vaccinated spread quickly

Parents in this small coastal town have been left confused and angry after an alarmist post spouting misinformation about their children being ‘held down’ and vaccinated quickly spread.

Tin Can Bay State School parents are confused and angry after a screenshot spreading misinformation about their children being vaccinated was shared on social media.

A Tin Can Bay mother of five has expressed her confusion and concern after a message claiming students had been forcibly vaccinated was shared online.

Jillien Roche said she approached the Tin Can Bay State School principal on Tuesday morning after seeing the message on controversial app Telegram but the claim was quickly shut down.

The screenshot (pictured below) made extreme claims that students of Tin Can Bay high school had been “ushered into a room and teachers forcibly held down kids to vaccinate them”.

“Keep your kids at home if you don’t want this to happen,” the message read.

Screenshot of the post that caused confusion among local parents.

The message was then shared in a Cooloola Coast community group and comments from angry parents came flooding with many saying the information was false.

“Tin Can Bay is a small town so I think a lot of parents are concerned that it could be a thing in the future,” Ms Roche said.

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After speaking to the principal, Ms Roche said she felt reassured the story had no truth and wouldn’t happen at Tin Can Bay school.

“She knows I’m a concerned parent,” she said.

“She did deny it, she did say it’s not a thing in Queensland.

“It definitely didn't happen.”

Tin Can Bay State School parents are confused and angry after a screenshot spreading misinformation about their children being vaccinated was shared on social media.

Ms Roche said she believed the rumour may have started by someone who was concerned by children being vaccinated in Sydney.

“I think parents see that stuff and then they just spread it,” she said.

“I think someone’s read into it a bit too much.”

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Ms Roche said she approached her son who is in Year 10 at Tin Can Bay and he said he didn’t knowing of anything of the sort happening at school.

“I know a lot of parents in the community and we’re all just like ‘what the hell?’” she said.

Tin Can Bay State school told The Gympie Times they were dealing with the issue and the Department of Education issued a response saying the claims were “false”.