Anti-vax protesters verbally attacked and pushed a 1NEWS camera operator outside a vaccination event on the West Coast.
The local District Health Board organised vaccination events throughout the region, including at the Greymouth Aerodrome, to help boost vaccine rates. The West Coast has fully vaccinated 70 percent of its eligible population, making it among one of the lowest-vaccinated DHBs in the country.
While filming three protesters outside the Greymouth event, all of whom were seen holding signs with COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, two of them approached the camera operator and started threatening him.
"Do you want this camera f***ing smashed, you c**t," one is filmed saying.
The second protester asks if the footage will be aired, to which the camera operator replied that he doesn't know. It's at this moment the first protester hits the camera.
"Hey, piss off, mate. Don't start this," the camera operator says.
The second protester gets closer and starts telling the camera operator how news cameras would show up to their marches in Auckland and film them, but apparently wouldn't air the footage.
"They'd show up with their cameras, but we used to always say to them, 'You f***ing never put it on the news', and you never did," he says.
The camera operator was uninjured and the camera wasn't damaged during the attack.
The trio is also holding signs displaying various debunked statements on COVID-19 vaccines. One sign says, "Ask us about the side effects. 241 dead", which is presumably a reference to Medsafe data that shows the reported adverse events and deaths following immunisation with the COVID-19 vaccine. The weekly reports include a section on deaths reported to the Centre for Adverse Reactions Monitoring (CARM).
The most recent report, which was published on Wednesday, says a total of 94 deaths were reported to CARM after someone got the Pfizer vaccine - not the 241 as the protesters may believe.
Just one of these 94 deaths is likely due to vaccine-induced myocarditis, although this is awaiting the Coroner's determination. There are 15 deaths under investigation, 38 that couldn't be assessed because of insufficient information, and 40 that are "unlikely" linked to the Pfizer vaccine.
A second protester holds a sign with a similar message that alleges vaccine deaths are "worse than we're told" and the third protester's sign is a list of rare side effects that may occur after vaccination, including blood clots and brain damage.
There is a very rare and specific syndrome called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) that occurs when a person has blood clots as well as low platelet counts. It's also referred to as 'vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia' (VITT).
There is no link of TTS to the Pfizer vaccine so far, and is a "very rare" side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
There have been no reported TTS adverse reactions in New Zealand.
In terms of brain damage being a reported side effect, a study in the United Kingdom found that while rare neurological conditions can occur, the risk is far higher in people who catch COVID-19. Following the first dose of the vaccine, there were 60 extra cases of haemorrhagic stroke, or bleeding in the brain, for every 10 million adults that received the Pfizer vaccine. This is compared to the baseline risk of getting the condition.
But for people who had a COVID-19 infection, there were approximately:
- 145 extra Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) cases - a rare condition known to be associated with certain infectious diseases and linked to some other vaccines - per 10 million positive tests
- 123 extra brain inflammation disorder cases, like encephalitis meningitis and myelitis, per 10 million people
- 163 extra cases of myasthenia-like disorders, which are immune conditions affecting the nerves and muscles, per 10 million people.
