Pom in Oz: We need to unite as community and not be divided over vaccination status

So the rubber is very much hitting the road, vaccine mandates are rolling in and borders are due to be reopened.

People are being required to share medical details to an extent not seen for decades and the ‘unvaxxed’ are being told not to enter work sites under threat of termination and even in some cases police involvement. To say it’s a tense time in some jobs is an understatement.

As per usual social media had played its part in stirring the pot of unrest, fear, resentment and distrust. Allowing the ill-informed, uneducated, and ignorant to spread their own particular brand of hatred — on both sides of this argument.

If you believe social media then ... if you’ve had the vaccine, you are a “sheep”, you believe all government propaganda and you have no mind of your own.

If you have refused the jab, you are a conspiracy nut, you wear a tin foil hat and you are selfishly putting everyone else at risk.

Or maybe you are in the majority that sit in the reasonable middle? Perhaps you feel you have made an informed decision one way or the other and you respect everyone’s right to do the same?

Well at my place of work, my church, my social groups, that’s exactly the case. We may be vaxxed or we may be making the decision to go against the mandate. But regardless of our own personal decision we understand and even support (as best we can) our friends’ choices.

Whatever the way forward is, and it seems no one is fully sure what this way is going to look like, we need to stay strong as a community. We need to show the spirit we showed when this all kicked off nearly two years ago. We supported each other, we shopped for each other, we lifted each other up and we bonded as a true blue Aussie community. I really hope we can do this again.

Merry Christmas and God bless.