New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard has unloaded on anti-vaxxers still refusing to get a Covid jab, branding them ‘self-entitled and indulgent’.
Mr Hazzard lashed out after the state recorded another 1164 Covid cases and three deaths, as medics warned some hospitals and healthcare workers were at breaking point.
But Mr Hazzard blamed anyone who was delaying getting vaccinated for making the situation worse.
‘Not getting vaccinated is actually self-entitled and indulgent in the extreme in the middle of a pandemic,’ he said at Tuesday morning’s daily Covid briefing.
New South Wales health minister Brad Hazzard (pictured) has unloaded on anti-vaxxers still refusing to get a Covid jab, branding them ‘self-entitled and indulgent’
‘Go and get vaccinated and be fair to the rest of your community.’
Liverpool, Westmead and Nepean hospitals in Sydney’s covid-riddled west and south-west are said to be close to capacity with almost 350 coronavirus patients.
But the health minister dismissed reports of nurses quitting the profession over the stress of dealing with disease on a daily basis.
And he insisted: ‘This pandemic has been a clarion call to nurses – nurses in the profession, but also nurses who have left the profession to come back and fight this virus.
‘If there are some that haven’t decided to respond to that, well, it’s a matter for them.’
He added: ‘It doesn’t matter whether you’re the cleaners, nurses, doctors or the administrative staff – they’re all working their backsides off, putting it bluntly.
‘That’s why we keep saying, give them a fair go, folks – go and get vaccinated.’
NSW recorded another 1164 Covid cases and three deaths, as medics warned some hospitals and healthcare workers were at breaking point. (Pictured, Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west)
Liverpool Hospital intensive care nursing manager Michelle Dowd (pictured) admitted the workload of dealing with Covid patients in ICU was intensely difficult
Liverpool (pictured), Westmead and Nepean hospitals in Sydney’s covid-riddled west and south-west are said to be close to capacity with almost 350 coronavirus patients
New South Wales has now delivered 6.8million jabs, with 36.1 per cent of the adult population now fully vaccinated.
Liverpool Hospital intensive care nursing manager Michelle Dowd admitted the workload of dealing with Covid patients in ICU was intensely difficult.
‘Looking after COVID patients is not just emotionally hard for intensive care nurses,’ she said on Tuesday. ‘It’s physically really hard work as well.
‘These patients are some of the sickest we’ve ever seen. They require so much support and monitoring, and physical care.
‘We’re in layers of PPE, sometimes for hours at a time. This is really physically hard work’
Michelle Dowd admitted ICU was stretched by the sheer numbers of patients, even if it was being shared across the NSW health system. (Pictured, Nepean Hospital in Sydney’s west)
She admitted ICU was stretched by the sheer numbers of patients, even if it was being shared across the NSW health system.
But she begged everyone to get vaccinated to curb the spread of the disease and bring relief to the healthcare system, and healthcare workers.
‘We really need your help to stop the spread and keep people out of hospital and out of intensive care,’ she said.
‘This virus is literally ripping families apart. Many of our patients with COVID are young, they’re normally fit and healthy.
Michelle Down begged everyone to get vaccinated to curb the spread of the disease and bring relief to the healthcare system, and healthcare workers. (Pictured, a Sydneysider being vaccinated at the city’s Qudos Arena vaccination hub)
‘They come from a variety of backgrounds, but the one thing that they have in common is that they are mostly all unvaccinated.
‘We’ll be with you right through this event. We need you to be with us now. If you haven’t booked your vaccine, please go out today and book that vaccination.’
With her voice trembling with emotion, she added: ‘You don’t just protect yourself, you protect your family, your friends, strangers – you will save lives.
‘You’ll help us to save lives.’