Unsuspecting workers at chemists have been paid a visit by a shameless group of “cooked pals” issuing a three-page cease and desist letter for administering Covid-19 vaccines.
At least three late-night pharmacies in Canberra were targeted on Wednesday evening, including in Charnwood, O’Connor and Civic, with security at one having to escort them out.
A copy of the lengthy document, with a giant headline that read, “WARNING”, has since been shared online where it has been ruthlessly mocked.
“To all medical practitioners, doctors, nurses and any person administering the Covid-19 vaccine. This is a formal warning of your legal duty to clearly inform any person before receiving any Covid-19 vaccinations of the following,” the document read.
It went on to list a series of popular phrases used among anti vaxxers, like it being “experimental” and that “scientists do not know the long-term side effects”.
According to Capital Chemist group business manager Andrew Topp, the three individuals arrived at Capital Chemist O’Connor at about 10pm and lingered for about an hour.
He told news.com.au the store’s security guard eventually stepped in and escorted them out.
“They had started providing their notice, they accused her [the staff member], to paraphrase, of killing people … after a while it became obvious that it wasn’t going to go anywhere so the security guard said, ‘it’s time to leave’,” Mr Topp said.
Footage shared online of the trio’s exchange in the store showed them interrogating the employee for some time and filming her throughout the process.
When she asked to not be filmed, they falsely told her the premises was public and therefore they were allowed to film.
“Despite what they said about it being a public place, pharmacies are actually a private place and we can accept somebody or not,” Mr Topp said.
“They were asked to leave and shown out the door,” he added, stressing there was no struggle or altercation when the security guard escorted them away.
Two Capital chemists were targeted along with at least one other pharmacy.
“I’ve got to say, that sort of customer behaviour, which has become quite common, we have zero tolerance for it,” Mr Topp said.
Staff have, in the past, been almost run over in the car park, threatened with a baseball bat, and one employee had their house targeted.
The employee hounded by the trio last night was “angry” she was singled out “for basically doing her job”.
“We have zero tolerance for bad behaviour in our pharmacies and we will support our staff in every endeavour in a safe and supportive environment,” Mr Topp said.
Footage taken by the offending individuals showed them being ushered out of the store by a security guard while trying to argue they were “doing a job for the Australian people”.
“We’re trying to protect them from the death shots you’re giving them … you make the decision to administer the shots,” a man was heard saying.
He also falsely claimed he wasn’t recording the employee after she asked him not to film her.
When the employee asked them to leave the pharmacy, the female anti vaxxer was heard “serving” her the cease and desist document.
“What I’m actually going to do is I’m going to serve this paperwork, it’s actually a cease and desist,” she said.
By that stage, the security guard had been alerted and was in the process of removing them.