Mind-Virus Heads Explode as Uninjected Novak Djokovic Cleared to Play Australia Open
Dan Andrews had served up "an ultimatum" to Djokovic in October to "get vaccinated or miss out on playing"
The decision to grant Novak Djokovic an exemption from Covid-19 vaccination requirements to play in the Australian Open in Melbourne has been labelled “appalling”, with some players expressing surprise at the late decision.
On Tuesday night, the defending Australian Open champion posted on Instagram that he was coming to Melbourne to participate in the tennis tournament with an “exemption permission”.
All Australian Open participants must either be fully vaccinated or apply for and secure a medical exemption in order to enter Victoria without undertaking the mandatory 14-day quarantine.
The Premier has served up an ultimatum to tennis superstar Novak Djokovic to get vaccinated or miss out on January’s Australian Open. The stance comes as a vaccine blitz targets Melbourne’s south east. https://t.co/5zYfOfohG3 @paul_dowsley #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/TVABGI1fQz
— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) October 3, 2021
Tennis Australia said players seeking an exemption went through a two-stage process, with their application first considered by a panel of experts in Tennis Australia, and then an assessment from the Victorian government.
The chief executive of Tennis Australia, Craig Tiley, said the exemption granted to Djokovic was the same medical exemption anyone can get under the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (Atagi) guidelines.
“If there are several reasons why they are unable to be vaccinated, Atagi have set out very clear guidelines that have to be followed in order for you to be added to the Australian immunisation register and if you are added to that register, you are then exempt from a vaccination and can come into Australia,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Wednesday.
“For tennis players, it was a process that was above and beyond what anyone coming to Australia would have experienced. Simply because we had an extra panel … which through a blind review assessed any application and then granted exemptions if it was appropriate.”
Tiley said it was up to Djokovic to decide whether to disclose the reason the exemption was granted. The Atagi guidelines state exemptions can be given for those with acute medical conditions, including undergoing major surgery, those who have had Covid-19 in the past six months or have had a serious adverse event attributed to a previous Covid vaccine dose.
Tiley said in a press conference on Wednesday he could understand why people would be upset about the decision.
“Some of you will be upset about the fact that Novak has come in because of his statements of the past couple of years around vaccination,” he said. “However, it’s ultimately up to him to discuss with the public his condition if you choose to do that, and the reason why he received an exemption. We as an event, also as a state, as a country, will do everything we possibly can to give everyone an equal opportunity to come into the country.”
The state employment minister, Jaala Pulford, acknowledged Victorians would find the decision frustrating, but said the panel process to approve the exemption was “incredibly robust” and Djokovic had not received special treatment.
“I wanted to recognise and acknowledge that this outcome is something that many of the Victorian community find frustrating and upsetting,” Pulford said. “But I want to make absolutely clear that as has been the case the whole time, no one is receiving special treatment because of who they are or what they have achieved professionally.”
Both Tiley and Pulford called on Djokovic to explain his medical exemption when he arrives in Australia.
“I think it’ll certainly be helpful if Novak was to explain the condition for which he sought an exemption and he got the exemption,” Tiley said. “But ultimately, it’s up to him.”
Public reaction to the news of Djokovic’s exemption was overwhelmingly hostile.
Stephen Parnis, a former vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, said the decision was appalling.
“I don’t care how good a tennis player he is. If he’s refusing to get vaccinated, he shouldn’t be allowed in,” Parnis tweeted. “If this exemption is true, it sends an appalling message to millions seeking to reduce #COVID19Aus risk to themselves & others. #Vaccination shows respect, Novak.”
After everything Victorians have been through, Novak Djokovic getting a vaccine exemption is nothing short of a kick in the guts. All those lockdowns, all that suffering. Seriously? #auspol
— Dr Kate Miller (@DrKate_Miller) January 4, 2022
[LOL. Was it Djokovic who made you lockdown or was it your mind disorder?]
Such a slap in the face to the Australian people to allow #Djokovic a vaccine exemption after what so many people endured here over the past two years. Australians weren’t even allowed to come home from overseas but apparently if you’re rich and famous, the rules don’t apply
— Tahlia Hope (@TajHope) January 4, 2022
Australian tennis players James Duckworth and Alex de Minaur expressed surprise at the decision when asked at the ATP tournament in Sydney.
“Look, I don’t know the criteria for exemptions. Yeah. Apparently it’s an independent panel. He must have fit the criteria somehow,” Duckworth said.
“That’s very politically correct of you,” de Minaur replied. “I just think it’s very interesting. That’s all I’m going to say.”
Tiley said 26 people associated with the Australian Open applied for a medical exemption to come to the tournament, but only a handful were granted.
The deputy Victorian Liberal leader, David Southwick, said it was a “disgrace”.
“What a disgrace! We have had 6 lockdowns – schools and small businesses closed, funerals and weddings told not to go ahead, families separated for months on end and now a tennis star gets an exemption,” he tweeted.
“A kick in the guts to every Victorian.”
The decision also drew an angry reaction on social media, with many predicting a hostile welcome for the nine-time Australian Open champion when he takes the court.
Novak Djokovic is about to find out what it’s like to be despised by all of Australia. We’re all nice and laid back until we’re not. #GetVaccinated
— Karen Sweeney (@karenlsweeney) January 4, 2022
I reckon the crowd reaction to this is going to be very unpleasant indeed. And they will have a heck of a time explaining the exemption grounds beyond him being Novak Djokovic. https://t.co/IEdok8Sf6M
— Neil McMahon (@NeilMcMahon) January 4, 2022
Former AFL great Kevin Bartlett said on Twitter that the public had been “taken for fools”.
Russian tennis star Natalia Vikhlyantseva announced in December she would skip the Australian Open because the Sputnik vaccine she has received is not recognised in Australia.
Source: The Guardian
Australians losing their mind over Novak Djokovic are pathetic.
You went along with extreme lockdown measures, mandatory vaccinations imposed by your government. Direct your fury at them, not the guy who hits a ball over the net for a living.— Laura Perrins (@LPerrins) January 5, 2022
So cute…the sheep are crying foul.
they already hate Nole, with or without vaxx…about the crowd turning against him, well, he grew up while the USA+Australia and Nato was bombing his country to rubbles so some sheep yelling at hom sheeppy things will just encourage him. The fun thing is that the sheep get angry at nole instead of their government…
So true. They always hated him because he spoke his mind about the breaking up of his country to be plundered by the Anglo American Nato axis.
It is interesting, how people mind works, instead of being against forced vaccination, as they were at first, now they are angry, because not all must be vaccinated!
This is all controlled propaganda – don’t take the bait.
Word on the street is that less than half the Australian population has actually been injected, and those that have were mostly forced against their will. To most Australians, Novak is a hero.
What is publicized by the mainstream media is pretty much 100% government propaganda. And as for Facebook – really?
Incidentally, who controls the televised Australian Open tennis competition being run in Dictator Dan’s Victoria? Who decides who gets to come sit in the spectator stands? Who controls the narrative?
It’s a big fat propaganda machine.
My advice – ignore it.
Good for him!
We know when someone’s trying to kill us because that’s how we’ve lived for thousand years.
Djokovic and Vikhlyantseva know their minds and stick to their beliefs unlike the confused sheep that is the Australian public. AND, this is another proof to the confused sheep MONEY, not your effing health is a priority for those that rule you. A lot is riding on the success of a tennis tournament and strict COVID rules can be trashed to give the World #1 a go by, the sheep can be angry for a day or two, its OK. There is money to be made just like the Global Vaccine Gravy Train
You should understand that all the “public” vitriol against Novak is being promoted by the likes of Facebook and the completely Globalist controlled Australian mainstream media.
In other words – this is a controlled propaganda exercise to demonize the “unvaccinated”.
SO they’re going all out to paint a target on Novak Djokovic, when it’s actually baby-killer Dictator Dan Andrews who needs a bullet (just saying – it’s what I heard).
Nahh.. He’s being deported. His Visa has been cancelled ..
see @https://au.sports.yahoo.com/australian-open-2022-novak-djokovic-visa-reportedly-rejected-serb-flying-home-213925018.html
Maybe some of these IDIOT Australians need to familiarise themselves with the Pharmacutical brochure advising people of the RISKS taking these vaccines with prevailing conditions maybe exaberated and serious side effects could result ?? Funny that our Authorities seem to be DEAF, DUMB and IGNORANT of these warnings, and simply wish to target everyone, whether they have genuine serious reasons for exemptions doesn’t seem to come into the equation at all. This is considered acceptable ??????
This individual is ENTITLED to keep his medical conditions PRIVATE, just like everyone else. He does not have to EXPLAIN anything to anyone, it’s no one’s business but his own. How pathetic are Australians becoming ?