Australian Federal Police finally drops Covid vaccine mandate but 'devastating' effects live on

Australian Federal Police. Image: Julian Smith/AAP/Reuters.

Three years after it became universally acknowledged that Covid vaccines provide negligible protection against infection and transmission, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has finally dropped its Covid vaccine mandate.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw announced the change in a letter to staff, which was obtained by Senator Gerard Rennick and reviewed by the Epoch Times.

The decision to drop the mandate as of Monday 24 February comes after an “extensive review of public health advice,” which apparently took place at such a snail’s pace as to trail the rest of the country by several years. The mandates were dropped by most state and territory police forces by mid-2022.

But though the mandates are now over, AFP employees pushed out of the job are still living with the effects. Former officers describe feeling “shunned” and “treated like a criminal” by the AFP, with the loss of their careers, livelihoods, and homes taking a devastating toll.

Source: Senator Gerard Rennick on X.

AFP knew the vaccines didn’t work as promised but continued with the mandate anyway

The double-dose Covid vaccine mandate was brought in by the AFP in November 2021, with a booster dose requirement added in May 2022 after it became apparent that two doses were ineffective against Omicron.

Internal AFP records released under Freedom of Information (FOI) relating to its 2022 Covid Safety Risk Assessment indicate that the AFP was well aware that two or three doses offered little-to-no protection as the pandemic progressed.

The documents cite numerous studies showing waning effectiveness of the primary series post-Omicron, acknowledging that “protection after booster vaccination also decreased quickly,” as early as two to five weeks after a booster shot.

A review of the Covid vaccination policy addressed to the Executive Leadership Committee (ELC) acknowledged that “the current boosters are not proven to materially protect the AFP’s workforce by reducing transmission,” and that “vaccination is increasingly a matter of managing personal risk rather than collective protection.”

Yet at the same time, the AFP physically isolated unvaccinated staff members and pushed them out of employment under the false premise that they threatened the safety of the workplace.

A termination letter sent to an employee at the end of 2022 (which I have sighted but cannot publish) stated that,

“The AFP has an obligation under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) to minimise, to the extent reasonably practicable, the risk of infection and transmission of COVID-19, and to provide a safe working environment to all AFP appointees.

“Medical advice has indicated the vaccinations available in Australia are safe and vaccination is the most effective method available to reduce the risk of transmission and the severity of infection.”

Untrue, according to the AFP’s Covid risk assessment conducted earlier that year.

Obesity and comorbidities were (and still are) the key determinants of personal Covid risk in working-age populations, but the AFP did not mandate management of employees’ weight or general health, as it would have if the mandates had truly been about reducing risk in the workplace.

This suggests that the institution was bogged for years in a rules-based paradigm focused more on compliance than on what would actually ensure the health of its workforce. Case in point, an internal note stating: “more work is required on the cohort that have not yet had the two vaccinations.”

Former AFP officers ‘devastated’ by mandates

I spoke with three former federal police officers who were pushed out of employment with the AFP for failing to provide proof of Covid vaccination. All three described a high degree of coercion and discrimination: automated screensavers promoting vaccination, constant email reminders to get vaccinated, physical exclusion from work areas and events, refusal of medical exemptions, and eventually, pressure to either resign or be terminated with a record of serious misconduct.

“It’s devastating,” a former Leading Senior Constable said of losing his 17-year career with the AFP.

“I had a plan. I had just signed a contract on a property and it was based on my work, so I lost the purchase,” said Russ, who preferred to be identified only by his first name.

Russ, who is in his sixties, was nearing retirement but was not yet financially ready. His termination in early 2022 left him without secure housing at an age when finding a new job proves difficult for most.

Luckily for Russ, he was able to find work in construction cleaning. The other officers I spoke with were not so fortunate.

Russ ‘meeting with locals’ while on duty. Image: Supplied.

Former Senior Constable and firearms instructor Alina Dennison, 41, also lost her home as a result of her termination weeks before Christmas in 2022.

“We had to sell right when there was a market downturn. We had just bought our dream five-bedroom house with our two young boys. We lost money and we had to move into a rental property that we can barely afford on a single wage.”

Dennison says the financial difficulties that came with the sudden end to her 16-year career with the force had knock-on effects for her whole family.

“My mum just got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s - I don’t have a room to take her in like we did in the old house,” she said.

Andrew, who served over 20 years with the AFP, said he has been unable to find stable work since being forced out. Andrew is not his real name - he asked to remain anonymous to protect his job prospects.

“I’ve been doing odd jobs and trade work,” said the former Protective Service Officer, who is in his sixties.

“I used up all my leave until late 2022 in the hope that they would reverse the mandate. But that didn’t happen, so I had no option but to resign,” said Andrew.

“I made it clear the only reason for my resignation was the vaccine mandate,” he said, explaining that he chose to resign rather than be terminated to avoid having a serious misconduct charge on his record, which would prevent him from applying for any government job or even obtaining a security licence.

Andrew said he didn’t want to resign as he had a mortgage and needed to pay for his teenager’s education, plus his wife is in recovery from cancer treatment. But, “it didn’t make sense, and I knew in myself this is wrong - a fear campaign driven by politicians and the media,” he said.

“I knew there would be a massive financial cost. There were a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of uncertainty as far as providing for my family goes and trying to stay on top of the bills,” said Andrew.

However, he remains positive about his decision. “I take a lot of things in my stride. If I was in my 20's or 30's I still would have made the same decision.”

Medical exemptions denied, reports of injuries

Dennison was medically exempted from all approved Covid vaccines due to her medical history of a transient ischemic attack during a recent pregnancy, but the AFP rejected the exemption, directing her to take the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine against medical advice.

Information released under FOI reveals that 148 medical exemption requests were made to the AFP out of the approximately 7,000-strong workforce, with only 94 being granted.

Being in good health with no relevant adverse medical history, Russ and Andrew had no grounds to apply for medical exemptions, but they both expressed concerns about the safety of the shots.

“I was hearing about injuries from colleagues - honestly it was horrific,” said Russ.

“Things like my colleague’s father got it and then was paralysed from the waist down for several days, stories of people vomiting in their sleep.”

Andrew had similar stories, rattling off a long list of incidents that he said occurred in close temporal proximity to vaccination.

“Six colleagues have had heart complications and one was experiencing blackouts. Another suffered brain aneurysms. Another has been in hospital with heart surgeries.”

“One officer had been jabbed at least four times, still caught Covid and spent weeks in hospital recovering. An ex-colleague out walking, suffered a heart attack. Another told me that while out walking he lost control of his right side and could not see out of one eye.”

“Almost all my colleagues said that after being vaccinated they still caught Covid, the vaccines don't work, and that they wished they had not been vaccinated in the first place.”

Russ and Andrew acknowledged that they cannot prove that these incidents were caused by vaccination, but both said the anecdotal information lined up with what they were reading about the safety of the shots, and that they had not seen anything like this before.

As at 8 March 2024, the AFP had recorded 241 workplace incidents related to the Covid vaccine mandate, a number that does not appear to include incidents that took place outside of work hours.

However, Andrew said this number, even for incidents occurring in the workplace, would be “way underreported.”

“A lot of people don’t want to admit that they made a mistake in getting the vaccination,” he said, suggesting that people are inclined to blame vaccine effects on mystery illnesses rather than draw the connection.

It is also the case that medical censorship was rife in Australia during this time, with doctors who publicly discussed vaccine injuries being subjected to regulatory action, and vaccine-injured people reporting strong reluctance on the part of doctors and specialists to document vaccination as the cause of their conditions.

Mental health impacts

Equal to the financial stress has been the emotional and mental toll that the AFP’s enforcement of the mandate has taken on the former officers. All three seemed particularly affected by being prevented from having a proper farewell or being recognised for their service.

Dennison felt the effects of the medical discrimination keenly. “I was not allowed to go back to the building to get my uniforms or things. I never had a farewell. I was treated like a criminal,” she said.

“They have officers who use excessive use of force, who fall asleep on duty, who drink drive and crash and kill people, who leave guns on seats - I’ve never done anything like that.”

Andrew described a similar experience. “On the day of my resignation, I wasn't permitted to enter the station grounds.”

“But a friend and colleague did bring me out some leftovers from an earlier function as a send-off as I finalised paperwork, uniforms, and equipment outside the station on the roadway - because being unvaccinated, I was still regarded as a threat.”

Russ said he felt “shunned” by the AFP’s policy of physically isolating him from his colleagues.

“Before my dismissal, they presented me with my medals but I wasn’t allowed to go to the presentation with everyone else,” he recalled of his final days in the force.

Dennison also railed against the “hypocrisy” of the AFP’s official statements. “My children are Aboriginal. They said they care about Aboriginals but they knew we would lose our home two weeks before Christmas.”

Alina Dennison with her son. Image: Supplied.

No legal recourse

Last year, a landmark Supreme Court ruling declared the Queensland (QLD) Police Commissioner’s Covid vaccine mandate 'unlawful' under the QLD human rights act.

However, this was a narrow win for two reasons. First, the judge only found the mandate unlawful because the Police Commissioner “did not consider the human rights ramifications” prior to implementing the mandate, meaning that if she had completed the right protocols, it would have been okay.

Secondly, Australia has no federal bill of rights or human rights act, and neither do most states and territories, meaning this legal win is not applicable to police force employees in other jurisdictions.

West Australian (WA) policeman Ben Falconer’s failed Supreme Court challenge over the WA Police Covid vaccine mandates proves this point. The judge found the mandates to be “valid and lawful” despite the order’s infringements on employees’ human rights.

Similarly, a Fair Work challenge for unfair dismissal over the AFP vaccine mandate, brought by Matthew Kim Wilson, was struck down last year. The judge determined that even though the Commissioner’s vaccination order may not have been supported by evidence at the time of Wilson’s dismissal (in May 2023, after Wilson had used all available leave entitlements), Wilson was required to have followed it regardless. Therefore, his dismissal was “not unfair.”

The former officers I spoke with have sought legal consultation - they were advised that the AFP has “deep pockets” and that you would need “about $500,000 to take them on.”

“Who has that to spend when you’ve lost your house and your job?” asked Dennison.

AFP at ‘breaking point’

It has recently been reported that the AFP is at “breaking point,” struggling with mass vacancies due to poor recruitment and retention rates. However, it is uncertain how many employees were terminated or forced to resign due to the Covid vaccine mandate, as the AFP has not released this information.

It is also uncertain how the mandates and other Covid measures have affected federal police morale, although data collected on the beleaguered WA Police force found that morale was at an all-time low after the Covid period, with nearly three-quarters of respondents saying they’d recently used mental health services.

The AFP was one of the last holdouts to drop the Covid mandates, although incredibly, some Australian institutions still require the shots as a condition of work. In one of the most high-profile examples, 40 Victorian firefighters remain unable to return to work due to the mandate.

Co-director of the Australian Firefighters Alliance, Josh Hawkes, told Outsiders that the Covid vaccine mandate had been in place more than two years after the pandemic declaration had been revoked in October 2022, leaving Victorians short of firefighters for four Christmases in a row.

As I and so many others have been saying for the past four or five years - make it make sense.

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