SA Police Commissioner too ill to appear at COVID-19 vaccine mandate court case

South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens has been too ill to attend a Supreme Court challenge against vaccine mandates for a third day in a row.

The applicants, who include nurse and AFLW player Deni Varnhagen, are seeking judicial review of the state government’s decision to extend the state of emergency in early March, and for the vaccine mandate to continue for healthcare workers.

Commissioner Stevens, who had COVID-19 in January, was expected to be called to give evidence in the case.

Ms Varnhagen lost her nursing jobs because of the mandate.

The applicants’ lawyer argued on Wednesday that Commissioner Stevens acted in excess of his power by mandating vaccines under the Emergency Management Act, which he administers as the state coordinator.

As the state’s top police officer, Commissioner Stevens has worked closely with Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier in managing the state’s pandemic response.

Professor Spurrier was subpoenaed by the applicants to appear in court, but the judge ruled she did not need to give evidence as it would not be relevant.

As she left yesterday, protesters yelled at her as police helped her to get into her car.

Professors disagree on vaccine effectiveness

Vaccine researcher Nikolai Petrovsky spent hours giving evidence as part of the case for the applicants.

He told the court that because vaccinated healthcare workers frequently underwent rapid antigen tests, clearly the inference was that COVID-19 vaccines were not working to prevent infection.

Professor Petrovsky earlier told the court vaccines were effective at reducing serious disease.

The government’s lawyers have questioned the professor’s personal interest in giving evidence against the currently approved vaccines, as he is developing his own vaccines, and is on leave from his work because of the vaccine mandates.

But Professor Petrovsky told the court he would have been on leave irrespective of the mandate and did not have a personal interest in the mandate.

The government’s lawyers later called upon Steve Wesselingh, the executive director of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, who said COVID-19 booster vaccines had a significant impact on vaccine effectiveness and the likelihood of being infected.

Professor Wesselingh told the court a common problem with interpreting COVID-19 data was that “inevitably” with a high level of vaccination, more people who were vaccinated would get infected.

The case is expected to resume for one more day next Wednesday, when Commissioner Stevens will give evidence.

South Australia recorded 5,666 new COVID-19 cases today, along with six deaths.