William Bay, a former GP registrar, lost his medical licence after a widely publicised outburst decrying the COVID vaccines at the National Conference of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), in July 2022.
During the confrontation, which was live streamed to social media, Bay accused Professor Paul Kelly of lying and of gaslighting doctors, and called on the medical professionals present to, “join with the people of Australia and stop forcing these vaccines on people who are being killed by them.” Bay was swiftly escorted out of the venue by security, which was also live-streamed.
Since then, Bay’s penchant for hyperbole and dramatic flair has positioned his ongoing stoush with the medical regulator, AHPRA, as a colourful subplot in Australia’s grand COVID (#notover) narrative.
To some disaffected Australians harmed or marginalised (or both) by COVID vaccine mandates, the furore surrounding Bay’s suspension is a modern-day Biblical pantomime. Bay stars as hero, a fire and brimstone preacher railing against tyranny and heralding a new age of medical freedom and transparency. The medical regulators, AHPRA, and policy-makers are agents of evil forces, suppressing the truth of vaccine harms and unjustly dispatching with anyone who seeks to oppose them.
