The WSWS continues to receive statements supporting Dr David Berger, an Australian physician and dedicated zero-COVID advocate who is being threatened with deregistration by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) over his social media condemnations of the government’s “let it rip” coronavirus policies.

Since the publication of our first article on July 8, which called on scientists, health workers and other workers to come to Dr. Berger’s defence, the WSWS has published nineteen articles compiling statements of support, including from workers, students and professionals.

Statements of support can be emailed here. Please indicate in the email how you would like to be identified in our next article, and if you want to include a photo, please attach one to the email.

Sam Poon, a La Trobe University student from Melbourne:

I am a Nepalese student at La Trobe and support Dr David Berger. He has been threatened by AHPRA for telling the truth, despite his reputation and dedication to saving lives in remote areas. I find it heartbreaking and unfortunate to see a generous health worker rebuked by a regulatory body, not because of his faulty practice but because he tried to save numerous families and school children from contracting COVID-19.

The government claims that vaccination-only policies are enough to beat this mighty but tiny virus. The actual reality is different. The data regarding deaths and vaccination shows us that there is substantial but still limited influence that vaccines can have in the fight to control the spread of the disease and save lives. The world has suffered three major waves and there are now numerous new variants.

China has applied strict rules and selective lockdowns. Due to this, only 5,000 people have lost their lives. On the other hand, the United States, which never declared official lockdowns and always underestimated the power of the virus, lost over one million citizens. Therefore, we can easily say that proper social distancing, strict rules and emergency lockdowns in the regions where outbreaks occur are key to controlling the disease, not just the vaccines.

I request that every government develop other COVID-19 safety measures with vaccine mandates and stop threatening their citizens.

James, an environmental activist from Maitland in New South Wales:

The attack on people like Dr Berger and Julian Assange proves that democracy isn’t working. If you’re a whistleblower, you’re being shut down. This is so wrong when the science about COVID is there—the evidence is outstanding—and yet those who are stepping up for the broader community are being shut down because it’s not in the interests of governments and the corporations. Enough is enough. These people deserve gold medals, not potentially losing their medical licence, or gaol time, in the case of Assange.

The apathy and the nihilism is unreal—the attitude that “Oh, it won’t happen to me,” or “It’s too hard.” People need to start caring more about this because they could find themselves in the same situation. This is also the case with the climate crisis.

We’re told to stay in our boxes, do what you’re told, toe the line or face the consequences like Dr David Berger right now, or Assange. The anti-vaxxers got away with assault and shutting down towns. If that was our movement—fighting for public health or for climate action—we’d be absolutely slammed. As you’ve just informed me, 150 people died of COVID last Friday, that’s crazy and yet this doesn’t make the news.

John Lonergan, an unemployed 22-year-old from Newcastle in New South Wales:

Dr David Berger needs to be taken seriously. When COVID first hit, we were doing quite well, we only got 2 to 3 cases a day in some instances and were able to manage it. It was initially because of the circumstances we found ourselves in and didn’t have much to do with government policy.

The situation with COVID now was completely preventable. It’s due to the Australian media, which has been saturated with one narrative and designed to keep people ignorant and unaware of what is really going on. It’s different rules for different classes and I don’t think that’s an accident, it is very deliberate.

My own housemate had COVID and because we live in supported living he had to be transported to another location. Numbers of my friends have caught it, and my own brother got it and he’s been quite sensible and cautious around it, wearing masks and social distancing.

It’s alarming that the government has removed all the public health measures. Most of us are vaccinated—we’ve at least got some protection—but there are so many variables of how COVID can be harmful. The reason why it is alarming right now is the immense strain that is being placed on the medical system. When that happens the likelihood of people dying increases greatly.

China got on top of the Omicron outbreak very quickly. Its population is insanely larger than Australia’s. The fact that we have had more deaths in Australia than China has had throughout the whole pandemic is very telling.