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 calls on scientists, health workers and other sections of workers to come to Dr. Berger’s defence, the WSWS has published twenty-one articles containing statements of support.

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

Cristina, a childcare worker from New South Wales:

I agree with Dr Berger. The way the pandemic is being portrayed is lulling us into this false sense of security that it’s gone. Anyone who objects and says it hasn’t gone and advocates wearing PPE is going to be ostracised and made to look like some sort of outrageous person. We are coming under a lot of societal pressure.

This gaslighting is going on against experts who speak out, like Dr Berger and other health professionals, teachers or anyone who questions claims that COVID is all over because we’ve had our third or fourth booster.

We’re told that elderly people are protected, that young people don’t get COVID and so what are we worrying about? In my experience in the aged care sector, if there are deaths, they’re not calling it COVID-related in many cases.

The gaslighting is a big thing to tackle on your own, which is what Dr Berger is experiencing. But when the Australian Medical Association is not directly supporting him then it’s more difficult for other doctors, nurses, allied health workers and educators, who do see the numbers of the COVID outbreak going up, to speak out. It’s becoming more difficult but it’s important to speak the truth about what is really happening.

Hex, a former chef, now social media content creator:

I first noticed Dr Berger being outspoken about COVID and his tweets were gaining traction from other people I was following on Twitter. It was really clear that the government was mishandling the COVID pandemic for business reasons.

It’s democide. It’s deliberate. It’s bordering on eugenics when it comes to disabled people and people not realising or caring about things like air-filtration or mask mandates. You’re breathing in a vascular disease that’s going to wreak havoc on your body. We mandate seat belts for a reason and my son’s school won’t even let them have peanut butter because they’re worried about peanut allergies.

What Dr Berger was saying on Twitter was very in line with the research I was reading, and it was amazing to see a doctor come out and actually say something and not be scared of losing their pay packet over it. I thought it was quite inspiring.

We now understand that COVID is causing neurological disabilities, advanced progression of Alzheimer’s, heart attacks, strokes, brain bleeds, hernias—all kinds of awful things. If most people knew this, they’d probably be more cautious. COVID may work in a similar way to something like HIV before it becomes AIDS—that it takes time. It’s really scary stuff and yet people are walking around not knowing that they have severely compromised immune systems.

In Australia, our health care system is becoming more and more like a business. When I caught COVID my heart rate was going incredibly fast and I needed to get an ECG. I had to pay for the ECG and the overnight hire of a heart rate monitor, which all cost over $200. Fortunately, my doctor’s appointment was bulk-billed but what if I couldn’t pay, would I just die?

These heart problems can show up weeks or months after you’ve caught COVID and there’s a figure of 277 days where you need to be keeping an eye out for problems.

Capitalism is not equipped to handle a pandemic. I don’t have a lot of faith in the new Labor government at all; they’re not going to fix the problem.

Antoinette, a University of Melbourne master’s student:

Dr Berger has clearly articulated and rightly critiqued the inability of current healthcare measures and infrastructure in many developed nations to protect their own citizens, placing frontline healthcare workers especially in danger.

His commentary on the topic is sober and, while often brutally honest and strongly worded, it is also supported by credible evidence, a refreshing and increasingly precious commodity in discussions of the pandemic in recent years.

Even upon reading a few of Dr Berger’s articles, it becomes apparent that the justifications given by APHRA for their condemnation and censorship of his work are gross attempts to discredit him, attempting to conflate his writings with the pseudo-scientific ramblings of a conspiracy theorist.

In a world with rampant misinformation, unclear public advice and government inaction, attempting to silence one of the few voices contributing positively to informing the public is simply unacceptable and must be opposed.