Vanessa De Bruyns covid vaccine appeal dismissed in Industrial Relations Commission

A Sunshine Coast nurse who refused to get a mandatory vaccine amid claims she had “life threatening drug adverse reactions” has made a desperate plea to overturn her suspension from her work.

A Sunshine Coast nurse who refused to get a mandatory vaccine over claims she had “life threatening drug adverse reactions” has made a desperate bid to overturn a suspension from her work.

A Sunshine Coast clinical nurse who made a “plea for her livelihood, profession, health and mental wellbeing” after she refused to get the mandated covid vaccine has lost her fight to appeal her without-pay suspension.

Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) documents state Vanessa De Bruyns, who was a clinical nurse at the Sunshine Coast Mental Health and Addiction Services in Nambour Hospital, applied for an exemption to the mandatory covid vaccine on October 7, 2021, claiming she had “a history of significant potentially life-threatening drug adverse reactions” and did not take any medication.

Ms De Bruyns was told her exemption application was denied on January 6, 2022.

The documents state there was no evidence to back up her reason for an exemption.

She then requested an internal review of the decision to deny her exemption but was unsuccessful.

Following this, she would be suspended from work without pay on June 16, 2022, and had 21 days to appeal the decision, the documents state.

They also state Queensland Health, who was the respondent in the matter, told the Commission Ms De Bruyns had essentially made herself unavailable to work by not following mandatory vaccination requirements for her job without an approved exemption and she could not be put on alternative duties.

The health department also told the commission other, similar matters had been dealt with by the QIRC previously, though never in favour of the applicants and Ms De Bruyns’ application was likely to follow suit.

Ms De Bruyns’ told the commission she had applied for an exemption on grounds of “other exceptional circumstances” and it found that given vaccine hesitancy and conscientious objection were not applicable reasons, some other “extenuating circumstance” must exist.

She believed this was case for her and claimed she did not make her application on the grounds she claimed the vaccine would do her more harm than good, despite what was confirmed during the internal review, and that her exemption was denied because her conditions were not recognised as medical contraindications.

The documents state she said she did not apply for an exemption under vaccine contraindications because she could not test to see if she was allergic to the vaccines available at that time and instead opted to wait for Novavax to become available - though she said this proved to have the same reactions as the others.

She told the commission she had previously had “infrequent” allergic reactions to things in line with Stevens Johnson’s Syndrome - a skin reaction - and blood clots.

She said also claimed her own research had proven both of these reactions were possible with the vaccine and she believed could have been put on alternative duties instead of being suspended, as her role was predominately phone consultation as an intake clinician, and she could have worked from home or at a designated workspace.

According to the documents, Ms De Bruyns told the commission she was “making a plea for her livelihood, profession, health and mental wellbeing” and she had been financially stretched since being suspended.

Commissioner Terri Butler decided Ms De Bruyn’s appeal would not be heard.

Ms De Bruyns and Queensland Health have both been contacted for further comment.

Originally published as Vanessa De Bruyns covid vaccine appeal dismissed in Industrial Relations Commission