World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic continues to keep his vaccination status a secret, but in a surprising turn of events, the reigning Australian Open champion is on this year’s official list of competitors, as he could still play in the tournament if he receives a medical exemption. Responding to this development, Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie, who believes that Djokovic is trying to exploit a “loophole” to dodge the Grand Slam’s Covid restrictions, has insisted that the original rules must still be applied, meaning that only double-vaccinated players can attend. The Mail Australia has the story.
Jacqui Lambie has blasted Novak Djokovic after the Australian Open named him on its competition entry list despite the world number one refusing to reveal if he is fully vaccinated.
Tennis Australia named the 34 year-old, an outspoken Covid vaccine sceptic, on its official list of competitors for the Melbourne Grand Slam on Wednesday.
Djokovic has so far refused to reveal if he is double-jabbed despite the Victorian Government mandating that all competitors must have received both doses.
The Tasmanian Senator on Thursday morning said the rules were simple and Djokovic shouldn’t receive any special treatment.
“I don’t give a stuff whether you’re the number one,” she told the Today show. “You’re either double vaccinated or not. If you’re not double vaccinated, you’re not coming in.”
Reports emerged on Wednesday the tennis great could pursue a medical exemption if he wasn’t vaccinated – a loophole allowing him to compete in the tournament and enter Australia without quarantining.
“I don’t know where the loophole comes from – you’re either double vaccinated or not,” Lambie said.
The sport’s governing body said players could get around the strict quarantine requirements by obtaining a “valid medical exemption”.
But Deputy Premier James Merlino downplayed that possibility, as there were only a few reasons why medical exemptions would be granted.
“So my view and I think the view of all Victorians (and) the expectation of all Victorians is that everyone who attends the Open player, spectator, staff, officials, everyone is fully vaccinated.”
Djokovic apparently has grounds to apply for the exemption and is backed by Tennis Australia officials, News Corp reported.
“[The rules] include certified proof of vaccination or a valid medical exemption approved by Australian medical officials,” Tennis Australia said.
What has also been made clear by health officials is that international arrivals who don’t meet these requirements will need to quarantine for 14 days.
Tennis Australia denied the suggestion it was seeking ‘loopholes’ to help Djokovic enter the country.
“Any application for a medical exemption must follow strict government guidelines based on ATAGI (Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation) clinical advice,” Tennis Australia told Daily Mail Australia.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
if you don’t need a mechanical ventilator you should be at home in bed with a lemsip
One of the very few plus points of this total shit show is that it might have stopped the type of plonker who would have gone to A&E with a broken nail or a bit of wind. But then I suppose their places might have been taken up by the ludicrous hyperchondriacs who are clearly actually having propaganda-induced panic attacks rather than genuinely suffering from the deadly Covid. Many of my mates have had Covid (as have I), but only one still claims she ‘almost died’. Not surprisingly she’s a self-obsessed drama queen.
ha! yes – I think people should pay upfront for A&E or GP visit and get paid back if its not trivial
That was my conclusion when noting empty GP waiting areas during 3 appointments in the course of a week just over a month ago.
Absent the hypochondriacs with imaginary conditions who are most likely the same individuals still ‘shielding at home’ 12 months after the arrival of scary Covid.
I have a friend who talks on Facebook about her “recovery journey” after Covid. One step from “Covid survivor” type stuff.
She is a triathlete and had a high temp with increased heart rate during her infection. Had a check up and sent home.
Or given Ivermectin, dexamethasone, etc, to get them better faster and out of hospital. Or an asthma inhaler.
This PPE story is a diversion. Anecdotally, at my local hospital patients are being sent to Covid wards if they have respiratory symptoms, even if they test negative for the virus. They go in these wards without the virus, they come out with it. Sometimes in a box. Someone needs to get a proper investigative journalism hat on and actually uncover this outrage.
Last I remember reading (some months back) such was the scale of Government over-ordering of PPE that some Container docks were jammed solid with bulk containers full of PPE with nowhere to go.
But these findings were discovered by an international team of researchers, I’ll have you know!
Official guidelines.
Drawn up by “experts” presumably. Who’d have thought it?!
“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can give strong protection to children as young as 12, the two companies have announced following a trial.
In a small study involving 2,260 US volunteers aged 12 to 15, there were no cases of Covid-19 among those who have been fully vaccinated. Eighteen of those who received a placebo were infected.”
but how is their fertility?
How many of those infected had any symptoms?
If they don’t get symptoms, why do they need a vaccine?
If they don’t have symptoms, they don’t spread the virus, as illustrated in the article above, therefore they don’t need the vaccine.
Sushhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Quite a long time ago lockdownsceptics showed a chart that compared Covid deaths among working age people broken down by job type. It showed that health/care workers were no more likely to die from Covid than the working age population. This would appear to show that a supposed lack of PPE last spring was never a major problem despite all the media hype.