An anti-vaxxer WAG has shared a picture comparing herself to Anne Frank after her husband was stood down by the NRL for refusing to get a flu shot.
Shanelle Cartwright, the wife of Gold Coast Titans forward Bryce Cartwright, posted the image of the teenage Holocaust victim to her Instagram story on Friday.
‘The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law, the people who killed her were following it,’ the post read, alongside a picture of Frank.
Ms Cartwright appeared to compare her and her husband’s plight with that of Frank, who was captured by the Nazis during World War II and died in a concentration camp at age 15. The Jewish teenager wrote about hiding in an annex in Amsterdam for two years while Germany occupied the Netherlands.
The NRL’s restart on May 28 has hit a hiccup with around 20 players refusing to be vaccinated for various reasons, including past adverse reactions to the flu shot and religious reasons.
On Friday, Gold Coast Titans confirmed Bryce Cartwright and Brian Kelly were both stood down for refusing the vaccination after an intervention by the Queensland government.
Shanelle Cartwright (left), the wife of Gold Coast Titans forward Bryce Cartwright (right), posted an the image of the teenage Holocaust victim to her Instagram story on Friday
‘The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law, the people who killed her were following it,’ the picture read
Fellow Titan Nathan Peats and Manly’s Marty Taupau both hesitated to get the shot due to past adverse reactions, but eventually had the injection.
Ms Cartwright claimed the couple are ‘not anti anything’ but instead stand for medical freedom.
‘People have the freedom to say what they like, just like we have the freedom to choose which medical procedures we undergo,’ she wrote in a post days earlier.
‘We’re not anti anything. We stand for medical freedom and the right to choose.’
Defiantly challenging the overwhelming weight of medical science, Ms Cartwright refuses to give her children Koa, two, and Naia, one, Panadol, or get them vaccinated.
Her decision is not only risky to her children, but to the entire community, with vaccinations vital to reducing the spread of preventable diseases.
Anti-vaxxers spread false and dangerous theories, such as vaccines cause autism, based on a completely discredited 1998 medical report that saw the author struck from the medical register.
Before vaccination campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s, diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough killed thousands of children, whereas today in Australia, dying from one of these is extremely rare.
Gold Coast Titans Star Bryce Cartwright is pictured with his eldest child and wife Shanelle at his 2018 wedding
Health authorities have warned that not immunising children threatens the public’s ‘herd immunity’ against disease.
‘Immunisation is a safe and effective way to protect you and your children from harmful, contagious diseases. It also safeguards the health of other people, now and for future generations,’ the Australian government’s health department says.
‘Before vaccination campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s, diseases like tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough killed thousands of children. Today, it is extremely rare to die from these diseases in Australia.’
NRL management have demanded the players must either get the flu vaccine or sign a waiver if they wish to play the game this year.
It’s understood Dylan Walker, Addin Fonua-Blake, Josh Papalii, Joseph Tapine, Iosia Soliola and Canterbury’s Sione Katoa all signed a waiver to remain compliant under the NRL’s guidelines and continue training.
It has sparked confusion over how different states and territories will enforce the NRL’s return to training protocols, and casts doubt over whether unimmunised players will be allowed to play in Queensland.
Walker said he believed in the ‘freedom of choice’ in an Instagram post on Saturday.
Walker said he believed in the ‘freedom of choice’ in an Instagram post on Saturday
Pictured: Dylan Walker and partner
‘We are all entitled and have a RIGHT to choose to deal with our health in ways that feel right to us uniquely,’ he wrote.
‘We are not all the same, and not all the same things work for everyone.’
The Manly Sea Eagles back said he is ‘not anti anything’ and is not giving out medical advice.
‘I am standing for freedom to choose and to make decisions for our own bodies,’ he said.
‘The freedoms we give away now, will become the standards our future generations will have to abide by.’
Although the Sharks’ squad has been vaccinated, Cronulla captain Wade Graham called out anti-vaxxers who refuse to get a flu shot.
Speaking on Triple M on Saturday, Graham said getting the flu shot is a ‘no brainer’, and refusing to do so based on just personal preference goes against a team-first mentality.
‘If it was a pure personal preference, I’d say it’s a team sport boys,’ he said.
‘It’s not an individual sport and you need to do things sometimes that are not in your comfort zone, or that are not in your best interests, for the greater good of the team.
‘That’s what great teams are built on.
‘I think in this situation, you have to not think about your own personal situation and think about the rest of the playing group.’
NRL management has now demanded they must either get the flu vaccine or sign a waiver if they wish to play the game this year (pictured Sione Katoa and partner)
Canberra Raiders NRL player Joe Tapine (pictured with wife Kirsten) is among those who are refusing to get flu shots
Frustrated footy fans have slammed NRL players who are refusing to get the mandatory flu shot.
‘The NRL are still to figure out that this self-entitled, better than everyone else attitude needs to stop.’ one outraged fan posted to social media on Friday.
‘Seriously, cancel their contracts. They are a menace to society and should be held vicariously liable to any anti-vaxxer related illnesses,’ another person said.
‘Have anti-vaxxers learnt nothing from the current situation? You may not care what happens to you but you have a responsibility to the public, especially if you are a first grade sportsman,’ a third added.
Another fan pointed out those refusing to get the flu jabs could cause further delays and possibly derail the season.
‘In reality even if they get the flu and not coronavirus, they will have to self isolate until they are in the clear. So will all the team, so really they should get it otherwise the NRL could stop again. Plenty of jobs require vaccination.
Addin Fonua-Blake is seen wearing a face mask as he talks to the media during a Manly Sea Eagles NRL training session at the Sydney Academy of Sport on March 17, 2020
The mandatory flu shots are part of new protocols being implemented by the NRL as they ramp up to begin the season on May 28 after it was cancelled in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
Those refusing to get the vaccine must speak to their team’s doctor and sign a waiver saying they have been advised of the risk factors for not being immunised.
Rugby league chief Peter V’landys has said 97 per cent of NRL players had been vaccinated and their medical advice was that the remaining three per cent did not pose a risk to the rest of the competition.
Many of those refusing to get the flu vaccination are from Pacific Island nations where vaccinations have previously been a divisive issue.
In the second half of 2019 a severe measles outbreak hit the country of Samoa propelled by low immunisation rates.
NRL fans eager to see the competition resume said those not wanting the flu shots should be stood down
Others, however, argued it was their right to refuse a flu shot as long as they isolated once they show symptoms
Others pointed out that Pacific Island countries have historically had issues with vaccination rates
Out of the country’s small population of 200,874 people, there were 5,707 measles cases, 83 of them deadly.
Papalii said he was confident the issue would be resolved this week.
‘The NRL are working on it so it’s all good. Hopefully it’s all sorted soon. I’m looking forward to getting back on the field and playing,’ Papalii told the The Daily Telegraph.
Meanwhile health experts and government officials have weighed in saying footballers who did not get the vaccine were ‘selfish’.
‘It’s a shame to see some of these illnesses comes back because of falls in vaccination rates and we need to be constantly vigilant that we have a good level of immunity in the community to prevent these diseases from coming back,’ Australian Medical Association NSW President Dr Kean-Seng Lim said.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NRL players should get flu jabs if they have been told to by health experts (pictured Canberra’s Sia Soliola)
Canberra Raiders Father-of-two Josh Papalii (pictured with his wife) also refused the influenza vaccine based on religious grounds