Dear teachers and community members. I have recently received an email from within my school community that asks me to place my name on a list of parents who are ‘pro-freedom’ and ‘pro-choice’, namely the right for teachers to not get vaccinated against COVID-19. In return I was promised organised gatherings to ‘strengthen the bonds’ between us freedom fighters.
In response to this I would like to thank the teachers and community members who have honoured their roles in the community and supported the process of returning safely to school. Thank you for recognising your inherent privileges and freedoms.
Thank you for making the choice to stand up for the safety of the children, pregnant women, the aged, the vulnerable, indigenous communities, those with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Thank you for your consideration of health workers and the community at large. Thank you for getting vaccinated.
Whilst it makes for tantalising rhetoric, I am personally appalled by the misappropriation of concepts such ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-freedom’ coming from people who experience such extraordinary privilege within the context of our global society.
And as a person who has experienced considerable domestic violence, it is deeply offensive to suggest that a vaccination mandate designed to protect the vulnerable is in any way battery or assault. I feel this terminology is being used to bully people into signing up to an anti-vaccination campaign that will only hinder the safe return of our children to school. And God knows we have all had enough of home schooling.
This may make me a social pariah, and I may not get invited to the latest bond strengthening shindig. But I believe it is important to offer an alternative from what has become the dominant narrative in our community. I am totally ‘pro-choice’ and ‘pro-freedom’ and I thank those who have used their freedoms to make choices that benefit and protect the entire community.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
