Security ramped up at Victorian vaccine hub after ‘anti-vaxxers’ abuse nursing staff
Nurses at vaccine hubs have been abused and spat on in shocking incidents revealed on Friday by Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley.
People who oppose the Covid-19 jab have abused and spat on nurses in disturbing incidents at Victorian vaccination hubs, authorities have revealed.
Health Minister Martin Foley on Friday revealed shocking details about an incident at Cranbourne vaccine hub where an “anti-vaxxer” made “completely inappropriate and threatening remarks to our nursing staff”.
“That has required us to get Victoria police involved, and make further efforts to make sure that these anti-science and anti-evidence dangerous fanatics are held to account,” he said.
“You aren‘t allowed to come in and abuse our nurses and healthcare professionals.
“If you want to have your tin pot theories, fine, keep them to yourself, but keep them out of our healthcare settings.”
Mr Foley said there had been other reports across the vaccine hubs of nursing staff dealing with verbal abuse, racism and even being spat on.
“Violence, physical and verbal threats against our healthcare workers and call centre staff is not okay, and will not be tolerated,” he said.
“No matter what the situation is, no matter how frustrated and stressed you are, no matter what wacky theory you might think is real.”
He said security had been ramped up at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre as a result of the shocking incidents.
“It’s sad and disappointing that this has to happen … vaccination centres are places where people want to do the right thing and get us a ticket out of this pandemic,” he said.
Victoria recorded no new local cases of Covid-19 on Friday and three infections detected in international travellers in hotel quarantine.
There were 32 active Covid-19 infections in the state, up from 31 on Thursday.
There were 19,470 doses of the vaccine administered across the state in the past 24 hours and 24,726 tests taken.
Victoria tightened its border with NSW from Friday morning, declaring previous green zone areas as orange zones.
The Department of Health issued the alert on Thursday night, saying the decision was made out “abundance of caution” and on the advice of health officials as NSW posted 24 new infections.
Alice Springs was added to the list of banned locations, deemed a retrospective orange zone from June 25.
The backdated reclassification meant anyone from the town who travelled to Victoria on or after June 25 must get tested immediately.
Read related topics:Coronavirus
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