The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is continuing to receive statements for Dr. David Berger, an Australian physician and dedicated Zero-COVID advocate, who is facing disciplinary action from the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) because of his exposure of government and corporate lies about COVID-19.

Since the publication of our first article, which calls on scientists, health workers and other sections of workers to speak out in defence of Dr. Berger, the WSWS has published two articles compiling these statements and will continue publishing others throughout this week. These articles have been read by many thousands of people throughout the world.

We urge readers to speak out in Berger’s defence by emailing your statements here. Please indicate in the email how you would like to be identified in our next article, and if you want to include a photo, please attach one to the email.

Associate Professor of Medicine & Public Health in New South Wales

Dr. Berger’s defence has my full support. The silencing of Dr. David Berger is an anti-democratic act by AHPRA, a medical body who has a responsibility of overseeing the well-being of patients. This development is also hypocritical considering the advancing COVID-19 pandemic and the relentless truth telling of Dr Berger.

There have been at least 10,000 COVID-19 deaths in Australia to date, and this number is set to increase with the new surge due to new variants. This is directly due to both Labor and Liberal Government policy forcing the population to live with this virus, causing both acute and long-term illness, the latter in the form of Long COVID to which there are many concerning unanswered questions.

All provisions to minimise the spread of the virus—proven to be effective and to which Dr. Berger has been so outspoken—are of no concern to those that wish to punish a physician who has stood by his words with scientific fact. This silencing sends a clear message as to what capitalist governments stand for—human life is expendable—and the economy and profit are not. This has to change. Workers, students, scientists and medical staff need to rally behind Dr. Berger and provide him the relentless voice he has given us. The cost for not doing so is ongoing death and illness that is fully preventable.

Gary, a junior doctor in Queensland

I am a practicing doctor and want to strongly register my support for Dr. David Berger and voice my opposition to his persecution by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Dr. Berger is a principled doctor who has a spent a distinguished career serving communities in rural and remote areas and the third world. He has advocated for the rights and healthcare needs of working people, including immigrants and refugees, and since the start of the COVID pandemic, he has fought for a scientific approach to saving lives from the deadly virus, correctly demanding its elimination. Such a position is scientifically justified, and a moral imperative for any health worker to advocate.

For AHPRA to censure him on bogus grounds of being “unprofessional” is absurd and malicious. It is a warning that any health worker who stands up for the health and safety of the public will suffer the loss of their jobs and probably worse. In this third year of the COVID pandemic, when lies and negligence characterize the response of governments, the defence of Dr. Berger is an essential responsibility of anyone calling themselves a health worker.

The old adage that truth is the first casualty of war very much applies to the disastrous pandemic policies that have been pursued by all capitalist government the world over, except China which is still following Zero-COVID.

The bureaucratic attempt by AHPRA to gag Dr. David Berger, an outspoken advocate of a scientific approach to containing the deadly COVID virus, is the further extension of the suppression of truth, replaced by misinformation and disinformation pumped out to the public daily. This has cost the lives of some 20 million people around the world and still counting.

The suppression of information of the danger of COVID was typified by the revelation that Trump withheld from the public the airborne nature of the virus for six months, after he was warned by the Chinese president that it was in fact airborne.

As the WSWS pointed out among some of the claims by government and senior health authorities were that “children did not get COVID-19,” the virus is “not airborne,” “schools are safe,” “vaccine only policies” would stop the coronavirus, the highly contagious Omicron was “mild,” and that the pandemic would become “endemic.” Dr. Berger, along with other dedicated scientists, has exposed these claims as lies.

As a healthcare worker I call for the withdrawal of AHPRA’s requirements for Dr. Berger. We have a duty of care for our patients and the general public to see an end to the pandemic.

Kathryn McKeen, an enrolled nurse in New South Wales

The attack on Dr. David Berger by the Medical Board of Australia and AHPRA is an outrageous attack on one of the basic democratic rights, freedom of speech. By AHPRA demanding he undertake a disciplining “education program,” what they are really demanding is that he refute his well-researched, scientific approach to COVID-19 and quash his own refutation of the misinformation and lies propagated by government and media, in order to keep his job.

This is a travesty. Dr. Berger is a highly experienced remote area general practitioner, with a real understanding of the challenges facing residents, indigenous and non-indigenous, in rural and remote communities, in the struggle to protect themselves against infection and death from COVID-19 and for good health generally.

As a health worker myself, vehemently opposed to the murderous, let-it-rip policies of state and federal governments. I strongly condemn AHPRA’s disciplinary action against Dr. David Berger, and demand they withdraw it immediately.

Send us your statements of support for Dr. Berger and we will publish them in the coming days.