Our debt of gratitude to our Australian health care workers over the past two years is impossible to quantify. Doing what they love, thousands of nurses and doctors have been at our beck and call taking care of people who have become ill. The mandatory introduction of the COVID vaccine has wreaked havoc in many sectors, with large numbers of staff having to leave their jobs to exercise their bodily autonomy to not have the vaccination.

It is our doctors and nurse who are seeing first-hand some of the concerning adverse effects from this vaccination and, perhaps not surprisingly, these stories are not finding their way into mainstream media. Doctors and nurses who try to advocate for their patient’s rightful access to informed consent and bodily autonomy are threatened with disciplinary hearings and dismissal.

Others, like 'Cathy', refuse to stay silent and have already resigned from their job that is their passion, so they are free to speak out about what they have experienced. Cathy is a registered nurse and a registered mental health nurse. She joins me on Our Nation Today to share her experiences over the past eighteen months, including adverse reactions from the vaccinations and the adverse outcomes for the mental health of our health care workers.

There is no one size fits all for dealing with a virus like COVID-19. Australians have a right to choose how they medicate themselves when ill. The blatant removal of our individual freedoms regarding our chosen medical responses to COVID is unprecedented and should concern every Australian. We have been corralled like cattle into a yard and forced to plunge into the dip.

The mental health consequences for the government’s stubborn refusal to consider complementary treatments for COVID-19 is leaving an ugly legacy for families, and the government is ignoring. Our governments have a preference that it is more palatable to die from mental health issues such as suicide and suffer debilitating adverse effects from the vaccination, or even death, than it is to die from COVID or give people medical options.

Adverse reactions are real. The vaccination is not for everyone. People should not be corralled and made to choose between vaccination or livelihoods.

Our freedom to choose our medical treatments is a fundamental aspect of a democratic society.