Nathan Vass: Diary of an anti-vaxxer once the world returns to normal
So you don’t want to get vaccinated? That’s your right … but what will 2022 look like for you? Nathan Vass gazes into his crystal ball to let anti-vaxxers know what’s in store.
Opinion
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Despite assurances from politicians that there won’t be two types of Australians by next year — the vaxxed and the un-vaxxed — the future is shaping up to potentially be challenging and isolating for those who assert their right to not get the jab.
So what would an anti-vaxxer do in 2022?
Here’s a week in the life of Darryl Cummins* next year.
MONDAY: Woke up around 8am, no real reason to get up straight away. Still haven’t been able to find a job where you don’t have to be vaccinated. It’s getting harder now that a lot of businesses won’t even give you a stay-at-home virtual job if you’re not jabbed. So many people back in offices now that the work-from-his home thing has gone the way of the dodo and it’s making it hard to get a gig. Come into the office, get a job — but you need a jab to go to the office.
I couldn’t even get a bus or train to work anyway, they won’t let you on public transport now without a jab. Need a bloody vax passport for everything these days. Bloody un-Australian. I’m free not to get vaccinated, but they’re free not to employ me if I’m not jabbed.
I’m running out of money and the bills are all due. No discounts for the anti-vaxxed either. So bloody tough. And of course I don’t get the tax-time health levy reduction that the vaxxers do. What happened to this being a free country?
TUESDAY: Cheryl’s lawyer rang about the divorce. She said I needed to lawyer up because they were gonna argue that because I’m not vaxxed, it could be seen as “reckless behaviour” or something and I could lose everything — even the kids. I told her to get stuffed, no one is pushing me around or forcing me to vax my kids.
The groceries arrived. They got the order wrong again and the bananas are so hard you could use them to fill a pothole. It would be good to be able to go to the shops and choose my own stuff but those bloody vax laws, not allowed into supermarkets without the jab now.
My sister Flo called. Said the family is having a big get-together in the Whitsundays for mum’s 75th. Wish I could go, but can’t travel interstate without a stupid vax passport. I wanted to go to the Super Bowl for my 50th, too but you can’t get out of the country without a bloody vax passport. Same with the boys’ Bali trip. Wish I could go. But it’s my right and all that not to put that crap into my body.
WEDNESDAY: Big day of home-schooling for Danny and Heather. They have end-of-semester exams coming up so we’ll have to spend hours today going over their lessons. Bloody hell, it takes a lot of time out of the day but until the schools let in un-vaxxed kids, that’s the way it’s going to be. Can’t get a tutor to come because I’m not vaccinated. So picky.
Watched a good movie on Netflix today. I mean, who needs to be able to go to a cinema anyway? You can have it all there on your own screen. It’d be good to be able to get a choc-top and popcorn and to even, you know, feel the buzz of people around you, but hey, if they don’t want my business, too bad. I have the right not to get the jab. I can live in my own world. There are plenty of good shows on anyway.
THURSDAY: Some of the boys are going for a fishing trip on the weekend but it’s one of those bloody red zones where you have to have a vax passport. Bloody hell. How do the politicians get away with it? Just remembered, gotta ring that lawyer Mick about that darn court challenge.
They’re putting all the anti-vax cases at the back of the queue so it’s going to take a few years, Mick says. Typical. It’s bloody discrimination. They can’t treat me like this! I’m unvaxxed and I’m proud!
FRIDAY: Gazza just rang me from the Royal. Sounds like they’re having a big night on the drink. Wish I could be there but, you know, it’s my right not to be vaxxed and if they won’t let me in, they can go and get stuffed. There’s always the occasional bottle shop that lets me in anyway and I can get booze online from most places. And there’s talk on the internet that there are a few “off-the-radar” pubs around who’ll sneak people in without passports – just gotta know where to find them. Still searching.
Can’t believe the government lets these damn shops keep people out if they don’t have the vax.
Sitting in the dark watching Netflix isn’t so bad. It really isn’t. Bloody vaxxers. I don’t want to put some strange thing into my body and I won’t let the government tell me what to do.
SATURDAY: Trying to keep the kids entertained. Can’t take them to sport because of the vax rules. No vax, no play. Bloody fines have gone up to $10,000 if they find an unvaxxed person at any kind of sporting event, so going to watch the Tigers at Leichhardt is a no-no. All of the sports and the concerts and the food markets, even the bloody pictures, they all demand to see a vax passport. Bloody hell, mind your own business!
Gees, I feel like crap tonight, sore throat, aching. Probably just the flu. Yeah, that’s all, just the bloody flu.
SUNDAY: Feel like death, it’s a bad flu. Just stayed in bed all day. I did do virtual church which is pretty much like the real thing, just no humans. That’s life now.
Well, Cheryl came and got the kids. I tried not to let her see my breathing was a bit heavy, ’cause I know what she’d bloody say – it’s the virus, Darryl! BS. Just the flu.
I’m going to watch the footy on the tele. One of the boys rang me, said the gang was playing golf this arvo then going to the game. But I couldn’t go because they won’t let un-vaxxed people play or into the game.
Get stuffed. I have a right to decide what I put in my body. No one can tell me what to do.
Maybe I haven’t left home for a few weeks, but I like where I live. It’s cosy.
Gees, I feel like crap.
*Darryl Cummins is not based on a real person and is a fictional character
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