Dr Nick Coatsworth, who helped lead Australia’s response to Covid-19, has revealed he will not be getting any more vaccinations for the virus.
Speaking with Ben Fordham on 2GB on Wednesday, the former public face of Australia’s fight against Covid-19 made the stunning admission he is done with Covid vaccines.
‘Are you still being vaccinated for Covid?’ Fordham asked.
‘No,’ Dr Coatsworth said.
‘When did you stop doing that?’
‘About two years ago, I had three vaccines, and that’s been enough for me.’
‘Any reason why?’ Fordham asked.
‘Because I don’t think I need any more Ben, and the science tells me that I don’t,’ Dr Coatsworth said.
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The current advice from the Department of Health and Aged care states: ‘Regular COVID-19 vaccinations (also known as boosters) are the best way to maintain your protection against severe illness, hospitalisation and death from Covid-19.
‘They are especially important for anyone aged 65 years or older and people at higher risk of severe Covid-19.
‘As with all vaccinations, people are encouraged to discuss the vaccine options available to them with their health practitioner.’
This is not the first controversial statement Dr Coatsworth – Australia’s former deputy chief health officer – has made about the Covid vaccine.
In February this year Dr Coatsworth admitted that imposing vaccine mandates was wrong in the wake of the Queensland Supreme Court finding that forcing police and paramedics to take the jab or lose their jobs was ‘unlawful’.
In his inquiry submission Dr Coatsworth said mandates should only be a ‘last resort’, ‘time limited’, and be imposed by governments not employers.
Although Dr Coatsworth noted Australia had assembled a top team of medical experts to advise on managing the pandemic, he said they lacked an ethical framework meaning the focus became too narrow.
‘This allowed the creation of a ‘disease control at all costs’ policy path dependence, which, whilst suited to the first wave, was poorly suited to the vaccine era,’ he said.
Dr Coatsworth argued the restriction and testing policies adopted to constrain the first deadliest strain of Covid in 2020 lingered well past their relative benefit, leading to nationwide workforce and testing shortages.
He also thought the differing approaches among states, and between states and the federal government, confused the public and eroded human rights.
‘I strongly encourage the inquiry to recommend amendment of the Biosecurity Act to ensure that all disease control powers are vested in the federal government during a national biosecurity emergency,’ Dr Coatsworth wrote.
Dr Coatsworth was appointed as one of three new deputy chief medical officers under Brendan Murphy at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
He now works as a doctor in Canberra and is contracted to Nine-Fairfax channels and newspapers as a presenter and health expert.
He appeared on the Fordham program to spruik a new TV show he is presenting with Tracy Grimshaw, Do You Want To Live Forever?