Paramedic against Victoria’s vaccine mandate doubles down on jab fight

An Ambulance Victoria investigation into her social media posts hasn’t deterred a paramedic fighting against mandatory vaccines for key health workers.

A Victorian paramedic allegedly behind a growing anti-mandatory vax movement inside Ambulance Victoria has urged the state government to dump its vaccine mandate for frontline health workers.

In a 2000-word letter to chief health officer Brett Sutton, Premier Daniel Andrews and health minister Martin Foley, Jessica Davis said there were vaccine concerns from a growing number of key health workers.

Ms Davis, whose recent social media activity about mandatory vaccine requirements prompted an Ambulance Victoria investigation, argued alternative health safety measures had not been properly explored.

“From the outset, let me be clear that the group I represent puts the health and safety of the public first as this sits at the heart of our ethos as health care workers,” she said.

“We are not anti-vaxxers. As health professionals, we recognise the benefits of vaccines, but believe in informed consent and pro-choice.

Paramedic Jessica Davis.

The vaccinated and unvaccinated alike in this group are against compulsory vaccination to retain employment and civil liberties,”

Ms Davis said the vaccine mandate, which requires health care workers to be fully vaccinated by Friday, contravened the Constitution and the Charter of Human Rights.

“Deciding to take a vaccine or not when one’s livelihood is about to be taken away based on that decision is a situation not free of coercion,” she said.

“For many people this is not a choice at all, irrespective if this situation is deemed coercion or not.

“To put food on the table for their family they would have to take the vaccine, even if vehemently unwanted. This is the moral and financial dilemma many in our group are faced with.”

It is understood hundreds of Ambulance Victoria employees remain unvaccinated despite staff being given priority access to the vaccine.

A string of social media posts by Ms Davis last month sparked an Ambulance Victoria investigation.

“I’m pro vaccine, just under voluntary conditions, that’s all,” she wrote at the time.

The paramedic wrote a lengthy letter to chief health officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“I feel if you make anything voluntary, you’ll have more people accepting it, if people are coerced, they back right off. We’re going nowhere fast.

“Maybe … they don’t want to gamble with a ‘rare’ adverse reaction. I think that’s fair enough and doesn’t need to be any further justified. Where there is a ‘rare’ risk there must be choice.”

The Ambulance Union said it had been flooded with complaints about Ms Davis, while formal complaints have been lodged with the health regulator.

Paramedic sources said the Reignite Democracy movement — an anti-lockdown and anti-vax movement led by reality TV personality Monica Smit — was infiltrating Ambulance Victoria.

One paramedic described Ms Davis as a “ringleader” of the growing movement.

Ambulance Victoria said about 97 per cent of its 4000 employees had received a jab.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has confirmed the investigations into multiple registered health practitioners for failing to meet the requirements of their codes of conduct.

This included advocating views that were contrary to public health advice without appropriate evidence to substantiate those views.

Originally published as Paramedic against Victoria’s vaccine mandate doubles down on jab fight