Anti-vax warriors’ false claim and fury after death of Tom Van Dijk

Former ABC journo Virginia Nicholls tweeted a student died ‘after Pfizer’. But she was wrong, exposing the boy’s family to abuse from anti-vax fanatics.

 

All it took was two phone calls for former political reporter Virginia Nicholls to take to Twitter with the shocking claim that a Year 12 student had died “shortly after receiving the Pfizer jab at the mass vaccination clinic at Homebush”.

Ms Nicholl’s sources were wrong. Completely wrong. The story didn’t stand up to the barest of scrutiny. But that didn’t stop the tale spreading lightning-fast through the anti-vax universe.

As the family of 17-year-old Tom Van Dijk struggled to comprehend his unexpected death at the weekend, they found themselves subject to a litany of abuse from anti-vaccination fanatics.

This is a story of how a baseless rumour inflicted terrible damage on a heartbroken family and a school community shattered by the loss of a precious young man.

Tom, a high-achieving St Pius X College student, suffered a random cardiac arrest while swimming off a boat with his family in Sydney Harbour on Saturday.

The champion swimmer felt chest pain and was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital. Despite every effort, Tom died that night.

Tom Van Dijk

The next morning, St Pius principal John Couani wrote to Year 12 students and their parents informing them of the tragedy.

Mr Couani made it clear in his letter that Tom had suffered an unforeseen episode that led him into a cardiac arrest.

On Sunday night, Virginia Nicholls, a former pharmaceuticals executive for Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) and a one-time ABC journalist, posted a tweet falsely attributing Tom’s death to the Pfizer vaccine.

“A Year 12 student from a Sydney Catholic College has reportedly died of a heart attack shortly after receiving the Pfizer jab at the mass vaccination clinic at Homebush,” she wrote. “A champion swimmer, he went into cardiac arrest after a swim. Unconfirmed reports of two other teen deaths.”

Ms Nicholls claims she was reliably informed by a Royal North Shore Hospital ER doctor who “swears on his life (Tom) was vaccinated” and that she then verified it through another source in the Coroner’s office.

Her tweet was live for roughly 12 hours, until she deleted it and issued an apology on Monday after ten students contacted her advising her the report was completely unsubstantiated. Tom was not vaccinated, as he was not from an area in Sydney given priority access to the Pfizer vaccine.

But it was too late. The tweet had already fuelled a vicious rumour mill and was spreading through online anti-vax social media channels, with many claiming Tom’s death was proof of the danger of Covid vaccinations.

Virginia Nicholls. Source: Twitter

One falsely stated: “His parents have written in the classroom WhatsApp that there are suppression orders in place so that his recent Pfizer jab cannot be mentioned in the school’s letter, nor in the media. Will pray for his soul and his family.”

Another said: “Why should young people be part of this experiment when there is a 99.8 per cent chance of surviving Covid?”

The tide of abuse turned full throttle towards the school, Tom’s family, friends and loved ones.

Mr Couani said the school had been subject to abuse from all directions: phone calls, emails, social media posts. Some of the inquiries were to blast the school for “pressuring kids to be vaccinated”. School staff were branded “murderers” and “child killers”.

“On Monday it completely gained a life of its own. We had calls from across the country, and even the US ringing to confirm if it was true,” Mr Couani said.

“I was horrified at the distress it was causing to Tom’s family … they’ve tried not to focus on it but it’s very hard.”

Tom’s friends were also abused, triggering one of his best friends, Jacob Coad, to plead on a private HSC Facebook group that members report fake posts.

“As of now there are many insects reporting that he died of Pfizer to promote their political agenda, with no evidence and fabricating lies to push this,” he wrote.

Tom Van Dijk family, friends and loved ones received abusive phone calls, emails and social media posts.

“This has been unfair for his family and all of us, who just want to grieve an amazing person that was so influential on all our lives.”

As for Ms Nicholls, she says she had no malicious intent when she posted the tweet. “I am not an anti-vaxxer,” she told The Australian’s columnist Jack the Insider.

“I am sceptical about the Covid-19 vaccinations and I only seek to raise issues for discussion.”

St Pius has been forced to issue a public statement clarifying the circumstances of Tom’s death.

Mr Couani said he had hoped not to have to respond, but decided he would do so in an effort to correct on the misinformation.

“What became clear on Tuesday was that there was more coming and I had to set the record straight. That the passing of a wonderful, gifted and talented man had been hijacked by this movement, and all the misinformation about vaccination was feeding an agenda that had nothing to do with the truth.”