Australian GP receives death threats from 'anti-vaxxers' after false claim of child vaccine deaths

A Facebook page purporting to be a 'personal eyewitness account' wrongly claimed two girls had suffered 'violent convulsions' and later died in the waiting room after getting the Pfizer vaccine.

The backlash ultimately forced the clinic to pull out of the vaccine rollout of five to 11-year-olds after Chin and his colleagues received death threats. File Picture: Christian Charisius/dpa via AP

An Australian doctor has been subjected to death threats and abuse and is living in “utter fear” of anti-vaxxers after false reports two children died in his clinic after being administered the Pfizer vaccine.

Police have been notified after, Dr Wilson Chin, a GP in Pacific Pines in Australia's Gold Coast said “widespread panic” swept through his community after false reports spread online that two children had died in his clinic after being administered the Pfizer vaccine.

The girls suffered what Chin described as a “normal” fainting episode while under observation at the clinic a fortnight ago and have since recovered.

But a post to a Facebook page purporting to be a “personal eyewitness account” wrongly claimed the girls had suffered “violent convulsions” and later died in the waiting room.

Another Facebook user posted false information describing the girls as “unresponsive when ambos got there” and encouraging others to share the post.

The backlash ultimately forced the clinic to pull out of the vaccine rollout of five to 11-year-olds after Chin and his colleagues received death threats.

Five to 11-year-olds joined the rollout on 10 January after vigorous TGA approval. As of 28 January, 35.98% of the national age bracket had received at least one dose of a vaccine.

In Queensland, though, the figure was 31.39%, trailing behind every state and territory except Western Australia.

The Queensland government has cited misinformation as a key reason for lagging vaccination rates and vaccine hesitancy in some areas.

In a lengthy Facebook post written after the misinformation spread, Chin said the “abuse and utter fear” he had faced via the practice’s phone and social media pages was “unbelievable”.

In one instance, a social media user urged for dogs to be set on staff, while another person encouraged residents to “get” Chin after work, labelling him a “murderer”.

“I have never seen anything like this before and it seemed never-ending,” he wrote.

“They did this without attempting to confirm the facts and whether these deaths were real.” Chin told Guardian Australia it was the “first time in his life” he’d questioned whether he was safe as a practising health worker.

“I am concerned … we’re just trying to keep people safe and follow the guidelines and when things like this happen, there hasn’t been any government support, nothing’s been done,” he said.

“There are a lot of people against the vaccine willing to do anything to jeopardise it, and we have no backup.” 

Chin said he was still receiving multiple threatening messages daily, including a death threat sent to his personal Instagram account advising him to hire security and watch his back.

“Our address has been given to the public, and we have no security here. Every time I finish work I look around the car park to make sure nobody is following me.”

- Guardian