Anti-vaxxers targeting COVID-19 jab exposed in Sky News documentary

A small but vocal network of anti-vaccination campaigners are preparing to target the COVID jab. Now their antics are being exposed in a doco.

A small but vocal network of anti-vaccination campaigners are preparing to target the COVID-19 jab, with their antics exposed in a new Sky News documentary.

Premiering tomorrow night, Big Shots: Anti-Vaxxers Exposed will see award-winning investigative health reporter Jane Hansen visit Mullumbimby, in NSW’s north, where the dangerous myths that vaccines cause autism or kill people are spread like gospel.

Hansen, who “grew up in anti-vax heartland”, said she has “watched in horror as those who chose nonsense conspiracy over evidence go on to attack those who have lost children to vaccine-preventable diseases”.

“It’s part of their technique to silence an inconvenient truth. Now the pandemic, and the reality that a vaccine is our way out, has reinvigorated their campaign to spread fear and misinformation in the hope they create distrust,” The Sunday Telegraph reporter added.

Australians were given a front row view of that campaign over the weekend, when crowds of COVID-deniers, anti-vaxxers and conspiracists protested in cities across the nation.

RELATED: ‘Rubbish’ things anti-vaxxers believe

Pete Evans gave a bizarre speech during an anti-vaccination rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Saturday. Picture: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

A new documentary will seek to explore the campaign of anti-vaxxers ‘to spread fear and misinformation’. Picture: Bianca De Marchi/AAP

A shoeless Pete Evens, the former celebrity chef who has become synonymous with the protesters’ plight, gave a bizarre speech at a rally in Sydney, urging the hundreds in Hyde Park to “stand up in whatever capacity you can” and vowing to “speak the truth”.

The demonstrations occurred less than 48 hours before the national coronavirus vaccine rollout kicked off.

It’s “criminal behaviour that they’re displaying”, one man, who not only lost a child to a vaccine-preventable disease, but has been viciously targeted by the anti-vax brigade, told Hansen in a preview for the documentary.

One man in Mullumbimby tells Hansen he’s “never had a vaccine in my life”, while another said Australians have “been lied to since year dot by the ones above” about the legitimacy of getting vaccinated.

Hansen also comes to face-to-face with controversial anti-vax campaigner Meryl Dorey, founder of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network (AVN), who in the preview compares believing in vaccinations to believing in Santa Claus.

“You have your own truth, which is a lie,” Ms Dorey, who along with AVN has engaged in controversial tactics like targeting vulnerable parents and blaming health and developmental problems in some children on vaccinations, tells Hansen.

RELATED: Biggest COVID vaccine myth debunked

Ms Dorey and the AVN took their message to communities directly last year with a “Vaxxed” bus purchased through supporters’ donations. She said at the time it was “to perform citizen-journalism that Aussie corporate media refuses to do” and spread awareness of the supposed “dangers of compulsory vaccination”.

While it remains an “open matter”, Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said this morning, it’s worth noting that the COVID-19 vaccine isn’t mandatory for Australians.

“There remains a question as to whether the vaccine effectively prevents transmission of the virus, and that would be the reason that you make it compulsory,” he told Sky News.

Vaccinating against COVID-19 is the easiest way for Australians to get their normal lives back, but millions are hesitant to get the jab.

News.com.au’s Our Best Shot campaign answers your questions about the COVID-19 vaccine roll out.

We’ll debunk myths about vaccines, answer your concerns about the jab and tell you when you can get the COVID-19 vaccine.

‘Do you believe in Santa Claus?’ prominent anti-vaxxer Meryl Dorey asks in the documentary, comparing it to believing in vaccines. Picture: Sky News

“I’ve never had a vaccination in my life,’ one Mullumbimby man said. Picture: Sky News

Speaking to Hansen, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said that anti-vaxxers do “make news” and “get noise”. But, he added, their overall goal – to scare people off getting vaccinated against any disease – isn’t being achieved.

“In their fundamental purpose they are failing,” Mr Hunt said, “and I am immensely pleased about that.”

Big Shots: Anti-Vaxxers Exposed premieres on Sky News at 8pm AEDT on Tuesday, February 23.