From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 29 August

How often must some people be told before it resonates: COVID-19 may kill you! Let there be no doubt. It is imperative you take every conceivable precaution for yourself, and your family.

UNARGUABLY, mass vaccination offers everyone the greatest protection.

You must listen and heed the advice of the medical practitioners. They, and only they, are best qualified to guide us through this dangerous pandemic.

Certainly, this is not a time for espousing ludicrous conspiracy theories. The lockdowns and curfews are not a part of any government plan to steal away your liberties; nor is the premier, Daniel Andrews, planning a coup d’état to install himself as dictator of Victoria. He is like, the rest of us, struggling to deal with an insidious, invisible enemy, which is a killer!

It is intolerable, that many people are blatantly ignoring public health orders and exercising their right to freedom of movement simply to satisfy their own selfish egos. They deserve full public denunciation.

These are deeply challenging times. There is a surrealist element about the prevailing circumstances; an enveloping feeling of despair, and people are disquieted by the tone of the discourse; however, we have to remain doggedly determined. Mr Andrews, and his government, is acting only in the best interests of the people of this state, contrary to ludicrous public utterances.

You should not be trawling the internet looking for contradictory information to justify your unsubstantiated scepticism; or to prove some half-baked theory which is the consequence of specious Chinese whisperings, which at present, abound.

Social media and the darknet are treacherous, and not where you should be searching for reliable advice. Fallacious theories serve only to contaminate the public understanding and exacerbate community fear; nor should you be spending time in the company of those who have not been vaccinated.

Those of an age should not be afeared by deaths related to vaccination. While they are tragic, and not to be trivialised, they are, comparatively, minimal. For the greater good of the community, and the entire nation, those with concerns should talk with their GP. It is the sure path to winning this war – and win it we shall!

Also, church leaders have a moral culpability; a public duty to be accurately informed.  Disinformation is an immoral abrogation of religious responsibility to God, and the church’s followers.

In Rome, Pope Francis said, “It’s an ethical choice because you are playing with health, life, but you are also playing with the lives of others. I’ve signed up. One must do it.”

Anecdotally, revisionist/fundamentalist evangelical church congregations have the highest vaccine hesitancy. Margaret Court’s contention her flock is safe in the blood of Jesus, is too ridiculous for words!

An official statement read: “…we are in agreement that this Convid-19 (sic) will not come near our dwelling or our church family. We are praying daily for you, knowing that we are all protected by the Blood of Jesus.”

Respectfully, and with concern for the protection of the entire nation, we should exclude Jesus from this conversation. Reassuring as it may be for some, unequivocally, religiosity will not halt the pandemic. Emphatically, this is an inappropriate time to debate the literal disparity of the bible. By definition, any translation is inaccurate, and given COVID-19’s capacity to kill, we should accept the empirical evidence and the considered views of the scientists and health clinicians.

Divine intervention notwithstanding, vaccination is, unequivocally, the only protection against an on-going spread of infection. The bible study should be left for another day.

Regional Victoria is not immune. While it has been spared the worst of the virus, one infected person can set-off a devastating chain reaction.

We must stop being selfish and come together as a nation, indivisible. We must do as we are told. It is the only way we are going to defeat this international plague.

Keep well, and be safe! Stay home!

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald each Monday at 10.45am Radio 3BA and contacted via [email protected].