Mayor Tom Tate is urging Gold Coast to get vaccinated, including ‘flat earthers’

The Gold Coast’s fastest road to normality is to get vaccinated and anti-vaxxers need to roll up their sleeves for the greater good, writes Mayor Tom Tate.

I’VE never been a fan of people who want to trot out statistic after statistic to try to ram home their point. They rank last on my dinner-party invite list.

But in the case of Covid-19 and the number of people presenting at ICU facilities in Australia, it seems in this case: statistics don’t lie.

What we have seen through this global pandemic is how the actions of the Flat Earthers and Anti-Vaxxers are putting at risk the livelihoods of millions of Aussies. In NSW today, 91.6 per cent of patients ending up in hospital and ICU are unvaccinated. On August 7, there was not a single fully vaccinated person in ICU.

Those ‘partially vaccinated’ made up 9.7 per cent of hospital admissions and of those, just 8.4 per cent were in ICU.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate is encouraging Gold Coasters to get vaccinated. Picture: Tertius Pickard

Our pathway to freedom in this country is through a mass vaccinated population. The overwhelming majority of Aussies are rolling up their sleeves, including our younger generation.

Flat Earthers belong on the same bus as the anti-vaxxers and while I respect everyone’s right to their own views, I don’t welcome a person’s individual choice putting my health at risk.

In 1956, it took a mass vaccination program to eradicate polio. Without it, tens of millions more people worldwide would have been left with debilitating nerve and spinal conditions.

The anti-vaxxers of today are very selective in their recall of medical history.

Liam Howell 26 and Caroline Giardina 29 after getting the Covid-19 vaccine shot, their first shots of Pfizer. Tom Tate is urging Gold Coasters to roll up their sleeves. Picture: Toby Zerna

Incredibly, some are so ignorant or caught up in their own warped ideology, that they simply urge us all to “eat more fruit and vegetables’’ rather than receive one of the medically-approved vaccines available today.

What the Flat Earth and anti-vax movement doesn’t understand is we are at war with a virus. A few extra carrots and broccoli won’t cut it.

I applaud the actions of millions of Aussies who have rolled up their sleeves and got the jab.

The pathway out is a vaccinated population – not perpetuating sci-fi rubbish about the earth being flat or that vaccines will help governments control your mind.

In the case of Covid-19, tough decisions are being made by governments at local, state and federal levels, with one outcome in mind: saving lives. Yet the anti-vaxxers and Flat Earthers have tried to latch on to the actions of government and turn these decisions into an “affront to their human rights’’.

Anti-vaxxers need to know that I have rights too, and so do my family members. An overarching right I have is to ensure that my health isn’t impacted by the foolish actions of someone else.

This country rightly has strong laws to protect the health of its citizens.

It all started in December 2004 when federal anti-smoking laws prevented smokers from lighting up in public places including workspaces. That law protects those who don’t want to suffer from cancer via the second-hand smoke of someone selfish enough to light up.

The best thing the anti-vaxxers and Flat Earthers could do for their fellow Aussies is roll up their sleeves, get vaccinated and swap their #I’mOffended hashtag for #I’mVaccinated.