Pauline Hanson hits out at mandatory COVID-19 vaccine

• One Nation founder Pauline Hanson has hit out at the Prime Minister’s decision to make the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for almost all Australians
• The controversial senator said she doesn’t get the flu vaccine each year, even though the flu is estimated to kill 1200 Australians annually
• She also claimed, without evidence, the Government had exaggerated the number of deaths attributable to COVID-19
• Hanson’s rant comes after the PM announced yesterday he had signed an agreement to purchase 25 million Oxford-developed COVID-19 vaccines
• Scott Morrison will push for herd immunity amongst Australians, by having at least 95 per cent of the population immunised to the deadly virus
• The Health Minister has also hinted travellers may not be allowed into Australia without the vaccine

One Nation founder Pauline Hanson has lashed out at a decision by the Prime Minister, to make a future COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for most Australians.

In a video posted to her Facebook page, the controversial senator said she wasn’t anti-vax, but she would not be forced to take part in the COVID-19 vaccine.

“I’m angry. You have no right to say I have to have this vaccination, because I won’t be having it.” – @PaulineHansonOz #auspol #COVID19
More: https://t.co/rpFgiQOGRg pic.twitter.com/wxlYn3sbJL

— news.com.au (@newscomauHQ) August 19, 2020

“I’m quite angry because you have no right to say that I have to have this vaccination, because I tell you what, I won’t be having it,” she said,

Hanson explained she doesn’t get the flu vaccine each year, even though the flu is estimated to kill 1200 Australians annually.

“I don’t have the flu vaccination, that’s my choice, even though I know 1200 Australians died last year, yet you never shut down the country,” she added.

She then moved on to claim, without evidence, that the Australian Government has exaggerated the number of deaths linked to COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is a virus, I understand, but when you falsify the deaths of people that say they died of COVID when they actually died of other underlying issues … to put a vaccine into my body that hasn’t been tested is not happening,” she said.

Hanson’s rant comes after Scott Morrison yesterday announced the Government had signed an agreement to acquire 25 million doses of the Oxford-developed COVID-19 vaccine, once it passes trials.

The PM said he wanted the vaccine to be mandatory in order to achieve herd immunity, which would require around 95 per cent of the nation getting vaccinated.

However, since then, Morrison has walked back his comments slightly. Speaking to the 2GB radio station in Sydney, the Prime Minister said the vaccine wouldn’t be compulsory.

“There’s been a bit of an over-reaction to any suggestion of this. There will be no compulsory vaccine,” Scott Morrison explained.

“What we want to achieve is as much vaccination as we possibly can,” he added.

450 people have died in Australia since contracting COVID-19, with almost 24,000 cases recorded since the pandemic began in March.

It’s widely tipped interstate and overseas travel won’t resume until a vaccine is deployed across the globe, with Health Minister Greg Hunt hinting at such measures in an interview with Nine yesterday.

Mr Hunt said he would “not rule out” banning Australians from entering the country if they had not received the COVID-19 vaccine.

“If the medical advice is that it’s required I could certainly imagine that being the case,” he said.