Sam Frost’s unvaccinated reasoning contributes to community division

Home And Away star Sam Frost’s vaccine video called for “compassion” and “empathy” but has achieved the exact opposite.

OPINION

On Saturday, Home And Away star Sam Frost, 32, outed herself as unvaccinated. In the video, shared to her 578,000 Instagram followers, she described herself as feeling “less of a human” for choosing not to get vaccinated and said it was “none of your damn business” why she isn’t vaccinated.

The thing is, as far as I can see no one had asked Frost if she is vaccinated. It was her private information that she decided to share with over half a million people.

“There are a lot of different reasons people aren’t getting vaccinated – and it might be because of their medical history, their concerns they might have, they might have family history, it might be religious reasons, whatever,” stumbled Frost.

She went into no detail about why she isn’t vaccinated. Instead, keeping it vague by saying: “I’m not vaccinated, and there’s a reason why I’m not, I’ve spoken to my doctor and my psychologist about it, and I’m going to keep it private.”

Former Bachelorette Sam Frost released an emotional video. Picture: samfrost/Instagram

Frost stated that she hadn’t been vaccinated. Picture: samfrost/Instagram

Choosing to keep that information private but broadcasting her decision to so many people is completely counter-productive. Having an unqualified influencer speak out about such an important issue while Australians are still navigating what a future with Covid looks like is alarmist.

She called for “compassion” and “empathy” for those who have chosen not to get vaccinated, but all her video has achieved is to create a firestorm that is making society feel more disconnected with those who’ve chosen not to get vaccinated.

The furore someone like Frost creates by dropping a bomb and then exiting the room (she’s now deactivated her Instagram account) offers no solution to the problem of the unvaccinated feeling ostracised. She didn’t give any tips or insights into how best to speak with loved ones about vaccination and didn’t offer any valid reasons about her own vaccine hesitation.

Frost is just another in a long line of unqualified influencers who’ve decided to share unsolicited health advice with their followers.

In July, former Bachelorette star Elly Miles copped fierce backlash when she posted on Instagram about “toxic” vegetables she was avoiding as part of a diet challenge including broccoli, onions, legumes, tomatoes and capsicums.

Elly Miles promoted the Carnivore Diet in which she labelled some vegetables “toxic.” Source: Instagram

Elly shared the advice with over 200,000 followers. Picture: Instagram.

“Dietary advice should come from professionals. End of story,” a dietitian commented.

And it’s true. Miles is a reality TV star, not a health expert. Having her give her 202,000 followers health advice is completely misplaced and potentially dangerous.

Miles later apologised for the post saying: “My intention was to give people an example of the type of plants I’m able to implement into my diet during the challenge.”

Another person in the celebrity space who shouldn’t ever have given health advice to the masses is chef Pete Evans. In December 2020 he was finally removed from Facebook for spreading “misinformation” that could lead to “imminent physical harm”.

A week earlier he had posted to the platform saying Sydneysiders shouldn’t get tested for Covid during the northern beaches outbreak.

Celebrity chef Pete Evans was kicked off Facebook and Instagram for spouting misinformation. Picture: Instagram.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said: “We don’t allow anyone to share misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. We have clear policies against this type of content and we’ve removed Chef Pete Evans’ Facebook Page for repeated violations of these policies.”

But up until that point Evans had run riot on social media promoting a “biocharger” that could help with coronavirus (for which he was fined $25,000 by the TGA) and spreading misinformation about vaccines and masks. He also claimed in a podcast that coronavirus was a hoax – tell that to the 4.55 million people who’ve died worldwide from it.

Miles, Frost and Evans have no place in offering health advice to their collective millions of followers and by doing so they are potentially putting people at risk.

Sam Frost started her video by saying she was “really hesitant about doing a video or speaking up” and that is perhaps when she should have stopped and turned off the camera.

Frost is a Bachelor star turned Bachelorette turned Home And Away actor. She is not an expert on vaccines and her video has achieved nothing but causing more divide.

Riah Matthews is the commissioning editor for news.com.au