The outspoken MP believes Australia’s medical experts are not up to speed on the latest treatments
Last modified on Tue 2 Feb 2021 22.00 AEDT
The Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly has declared he will “wait to see the evidence” before being vaccinated against the coronavirus because he wants to “weigh up the benefits versus any adverse outcomes”.
With Labor using the resumption of parliament for the new year to blast Kelly for championing Covid therapies that have not been recommended by the government’s expert medical advisers, the outspoken Sydney backbencher contended the medical experts were not across the latest studies examining the efficacy of various remedies.
While the government is busy rolling out a national vaccination program that it hopes will start by the end of the month, Kelly told Guardian Australia he was not an automatic starter for a Covid jab.
“I think I would be one of the last people on the list who will need the vaccination in the world given the [positive] situation we have here in Australia because of the work we have done,” Kelly said. “When that time comes around I will look at the evidence and make a decision then.”
Kelly said: “I’m certainly not anti-vax in any way, I have been happy to promote vaccinations before, I’ve promoted the flu vaccination. In March this year I was encouraging people to go and get the flu vaccine.”
Asked why he wouldn’t then encourage Australians to get the Covid vaccine, Kelly echoed a recent formulation from Scott Morrison.
“I’m not a doctor,” the MP said. “People have got to get their own medical advice from their own doctor.”
The MP said he was prepared to advocate in favour of people getting a flu vaccination, while at the same time being hesitant about the Covid inoculation, because “they are different types of vaccines”.
Kelly said Australians – unlike people in the United Kingdom, which is battling surging rates of coronavirus infection – were in a position to hold back and assess the effectiveness of the vaccines because the virus was suppressed.
“That gives us the option to sit back and see if there are any issues that crop up with the vaccines.”
The prime minister was asked on Monday whether the government was wasting taxpayers’ money by embarking on a $24m public information campaign to build community confidence in the safety of inoculations when some of his own MPs, including Kelly, were intent on publishing false claims on social media.
Kelly’s serial interventions have attracted a public rebuke from the chief medical officer and the Australian Medical Association, but Morrison responded to the question on Monday by saying: “[Kelly is] not my doctor and he’s not yours.”
The prime minister added Kelly did a “great job” in his Sydney electorate of Hughes.
Labor attempted to move a motion in parliament on Tuesday demanding Morrison condemn Kelly’s Facebook posts, branding the activity “dangerous and irresponsible”. The Liberal MP has built a substantial following on Facebook.
The motion did not pass the lower house, but nearly all of the crossbenchers supported Labor’s motion, apart from the Queensland MP Bob Katter, who did not vote.
Kelly says his claims about the efficacy of therapies – including hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin – are endorsed by the immunologist Robert Clancy, an emeritus professor from the University of Newcastle.
Asked why Australia’s chief medical officer had a different view, Kelly said: “Because Paul Kelly is relying on advice from the national Covid evidence taskforce and they are months behind in reviewing the latest studies.”
The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, in mid-January was accused of embracing Donald Trump-style post-truth politics after he declined to criticise Craig Kelly when he said making children wear masks was akin to child abuse.
Kelly’s championing of hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus is contrary to the most reputable global studies finding it was ineffective as a treatment and could have severe and even deadly side-effects.
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