Australian vaccine promotion ends with death of tribal elder

A 65-year-old elder of the Aboriginal Australian Wakkawakka ethnic tribe in the state of Queensland, died after receiving a second mRNA shot. The tribal elder, Bevan Costello had been persuaded by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) to promote the jab in his community – by taking it himself.

Costello, from Cherbourg, died six days after getting the second experimental Covid injection, believing he was doing the right thing for his people. ABC and government health officials had convinced Costello to talk vaccine hesitant Aborigines into taking the shot.

ABC announced that he had taken it “to protect himself and his community”, repeating the usual scripted vaccine sales pitch from the government.

In the televised interview, Costello recounted how he had become “more confident” because of being fully vaccinated. He explained that he was a diabetic and that the vaccine would protect him against contracting Covid-19. According to ABC, the residents of Cherbourg have a particularly low vaccination rate, at only 4,6 percent fully-vaccinated as of September 9. Officials blamed “vaccine myths”.

Queensland authorities also blamed the unvaccinated for prolonging lockdowns and Covid deaths.

The Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement, a rural town northwest of Brisbane and home to Queensland’s third largest Aboriginal community, has a population of 1269 people, of whom 99 percent identified as Indigenous Australians.

Known as “Uncle Bevan” in his community, he received his second Pfizer mRNA injection around September 9 at a local pop-up vaccination station, according to ABC. He told the journalists that many of his fellow Wakkawakka tribe members were too afraid to take the jab due to “misunderstanding of the information, mostly on social media”. Officials even accused the Wakkawakka tribe of allowing “a lot of false information to fly around”.

But it appears as if the tribal elder had instead misunderstood the intentions of the media and Australian government in having him promote an experimental and in his case deadly jab. ABC quickly dropped the promotional clip featuring the Aboriginal leader after he died from the shot.

Details about Uncle Bevan’s passing in the media are scant. The Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council Facebook page posted two announcements six hours apart about his death on September 14 and 15. The first noted his “sudden passing” while the second described it as a “sudden death”.

The head of the Australian Medical Association in Queensland meanwhile threatened the unvaccinated with fines, fraud charges and apartheid. “Life will be miserable without being vaccinated. You won’t be able to hide,” warned Dr. Chris Perry. On Channel 9 in Australia he called those who had decided against the shot “crazy”.

Even those who have an exemption from mandatory vaccination will face difficulties, as they “won’t be able to get a doctor to sign [that] off,” Perry said. Vaccine mandates have been extended in the state to include all private healthcare staff. People have been given until December 15 to get double-jabbed and present proof in order to continue to work.

“You won’t be able to go anywhere for any entertainment,” Perry added, pointing out that only the fully vaccinated would be allowed “into most venues.” To those who don’t have a certificate, he said: “You will have a very, very lonely life.”

In the state of Victoria, thousands of Australians took to the streets in Melbourne to protest both a vaccination mandate and a bill that would give Victoria State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews greater powers to declare a pandemic and impose more lockdowns.

A large group of protesters, including children and the elderly, carried Australian flags and marched through Melbourne’s central business district on Saturday, demanding the removal of their Prime Minister.

Craig Kelly, United Australia Party MP for Hughes Constituency (NSW), attended the demonstration and commented on social media that the demonstration was “against tyranny,” “against dictators,” and “against human rights abusers”.