Queensland teacher’s life ‘ruined’ after severe reaction to Pfizer shot

A young Queensland teacher who suffered a severe adverse reaction to the Covid shot says her life has “essentially been ruined”.

EXCLUSIVE

A young Queensland teacher who suffered a severe adverse reaction to her first Covid shot says her life has “essentially been ruined” after the state’s vaccine mandate left her unable to work unless she took her second dose.

Bek Bickerton, 27, received her first Pfizer vaccine in October and immediately began experiencing side effects, including changes to her menstrual cycle and fatigue, which continued to worsen.

By November she was hospitalised for a week with dizziness, blurred vision, tingling down her arms, extreme fatigue, low blood pressure and what was later diagnosed as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).

“My heart would accelerate to extreme levels when I stood up,” she said.

“A brain MRI showed multiple lesions and inflammation. I also had trouble regulating blood pressure and heat. I had a wide range of symptoms but the worst ones were severe brain fog and fatigue.”

She was sent home with a diagnosis of POTS and “spent the next two months in bed”, unable to look after her two young children.

“It was over the school holidays so it didn’t affect my work too much, but I opted not to get the second vaccine so as a result I haven’t been able to go back to work,” she said.

Ms Bickerton was among more than 1200 Queensland teachers and school staff affected by the mandate, which ends this week.

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Queensland teacher Bek Bickerton. Picture: Supplied

Doctors insist on second shot

Under the rule announced last November, “high-risk” workers were required to have their first dose by December 17 and be double-dosed – formerly referred to as “fully vaccinated” – by January 23.

Ms Bickerton said despite her suspected reaction, multiple GPs and specialists including two neurologists refused to write her an exemption.

“None of them would link my symptoms to the vaccine,” she said.

“The first neurologist said he agreed the timing was suspicious but recommended the second shot. The second, I sent through some research articles from the US – he refused to read them and said I absolutely should get the shot.”

Ms Bickerton said she “didn’t expect to be believed or listened to” by doctors. “I knew as soon as I brought it up it would be written off, they would never entertain the thought that it could be linked to the vaccine,” she said.

“I guess I felt they were putting me in the anti-vax territory.”

She even hesitated telling her friends she thought her symptoms were linked to the vaccine because “I knew they would disagree”.

Ms Bickerton eventually found a Gold Coast-based GP who specialises in POTS who agreed the vaccine likely caused her illness.

“He’s treating many other patients who have had these symptoms come on,” she said.

The doctor was willing to write her a three-month exemption, which has since run out.

“During that time there was still no school that would hire me unless it was for relief work,” she said.

“My life has essentially been ruined as we’re now on a single income, I spend days at a time in bed trying to care for two preschool-aged children and we now can’t afford the mortgage to upgrade our home as we’d planned.”

She added that the Therapeutic Goods Administration “never got back to me after I reported my side effects and no specialist has linked the vaccine to my symptoms so I have no access to compensation, or even acknowledgment that I was forced to suffer this debilitating illness”.

“It’s all been a lose-lose situation,” she said.

It comes after an Australian scientist also suffering ongoing “long vax” symptoms hit out at the medicines regulator and government for failing to thoroughly investigate or acknowledge neurological reactions.

“I’ve done 50 rounds with the TGA on this,” Dr Rado Faletic told news.com.au.

“They’ve said, ‘We can find no safety signals,’ which I think is disingenuous if not outright lying. In my small personal circle I know over a dozen people with different long vax problems, [ranging from] ongoing headaches, memory problems or brain fog to some people who were basically bedridden for months.”

Ms Bickerton has been unable to care for her young children. Picture: Supplied

Vaccine mandates to end

Last week, the Queensland government announced the teacher vaccine mandates would be ending as the state lifts some of its last remaining Covid restrictions.

“Queensland has remained strong,” Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Friday.

“Restrictions that protected us have eased in sensible stages. I once again pay tribute to the resilience of Queenslanders for the strength of response to this pandemic.”

From 1am on Thursday, June 30, the high-risk worker vaccine mandate will be revoked, meaning vaccinations will no longer be required in schools, early childhood education, outside school care, kindergartens, family day care, prisons, community corrections, work camps, police watch houses, youth detention centres and airports.

“Decisions around mandatory vaccinations [will] instead be made by employers,” Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.

In addition, vaccination will no longer be required for visitors to residential aged care, disability accommodation or corrective service facilities.

“The public health directive mandating the Covid-19 vaccine for workers in healthcare, hospitals, aged care and disability care remains unchanged,” Ms D’Ath said.

“We will also be removing the public health direction that requires post-arrival testing for those who have travelled to Queensland from international locations.”

Ms Bickerton says she fears many schools will opt to keep their vaccine requirements in place.

“To be honest I’m still not back at full health, I don’t know if I could handle a full-time teaching load,” she said.

The Covid-19 vaccination hub at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Picture: Dan Peled/NCA NewsWire

1200 staff suspended

A spokeswoman for the Queensland Department of Education said as of June 24, a total of 549 teachers and 660 non-teaching staff were suspended due to the vaccine mandate.

“All school staff and non-school workers will no longer be required to be vaccinated to attend schools or early childhood centres in Queensland from 1am on June 30, 2022,” she said.

“This applies to all workers in a school, including contractors, volunteers, service providers, regulators and auditors. Vaccination requirements will remain in place until this time. This means that they will be able to return to their school workplace where they are normally based.”

The spokeswoman added, “No staff have had their employment terminated in relation to this issue. However, disciplinary processes already in place will be continuing. The decision was made by the chief health officer and the department will continue to follow the advice received from Queensland Health.”

Ms Bickerton said she expected the government would stand by its decision to impose mandates even as they came to an end.

“I think they’ll absolutely defend it,” she said.

“The majority of people who got the vaccine two or three times will defend it.”

More than 92 per cent of over-16s in Queensland have received two doses of a Covid vaccine, 71 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds, and 31 per cent of five- to 11-year-olds.

According to the TGA’s most recent safety update, there have been 132,155 total adverse event reports from more than 59.9 million doses as of June 19.

“Vaccination against Covid-19 is the most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from infection,” the TGA says.

“The protective benefits of vaccination continue to far outweigh the potential risks. Like all medicines, Covid-19 vaccines may cause some side effects. The most frequently reported include injection-site reactions (such as a sore arm) and more general symptoms, like headache, muscle pain, fever and chills.”

Originally published as Queensland teacher’s life ‘ruined’ after severe reaction to Pfizer shot