Over 100,000 Australians have signed a petition to the federal Parliament calling for the nation’s drug body, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), to release documentation supporting its decision to approve the use of COVID-19 vaccines.
“The Australian public has so far funded COVID vaccine manufacturers to the tune of $5 billion, and this may rise,” the petition read. “At the same time, the government is attempting to mandate these novel therapies on the public using public health orders, the media, and calls for ‘mandatory vaccination.’”
“It is now time that the right of the public to inspect any documents for vaccines that are funded by them is restored. The TGA must no longer be the sole arbiter of what documents should be considered confidential if the public is paying pharma companies for their products.
“It is our view that vaccine compulsion strips citizens of their basic human rights, including their right to work, their right to bodily integrity and their right to informed consent to medical treatment without coercion,” a press release from AFL said.
The news of the petition comes as Australian state and federal governments have pointed to high vaccination rates as the key benchmark for the country to move away from COVID-19 lockdowns and health restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The National Cabinet—an intergovernmental body involving the prime minister and state and territory leaders—agreed on a four-stage vaccination roadmap in late July.
All states and territories are currently in the first stage, Phase A, which is to get more of the population vaccinated. Once 70 percent of the population is vaccinated, Phase B is triggered, where restrictions such as stay-at-home orders will largely be removed.
Phase C is reached once 80 percent of a jurisdiction’s population is vaccinated. At this point, international travel is supposed to open.
Major industries have also begun implementing vaccine mandates, including aged care services, education, and travel.
