The COVID World post date: September 27th, 2021
CHERBOURG, QUEENSLAND – A well-known indigenous leader from Australia’s aboriginal community has died from a sudden heart attack six days after receiving his second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Bevan Costello got his second shot on September 9th in an event to promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among indigenous people. The death of the ‘Elder’ has sent shockwaves through his community.
Costello, who is an elder of the Cherbourg Aboriginal community in Queensland, participated in a special event on September 9th of Elders and teens from Queensland’s Indigenous communities to push back against COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy:
The Elder was interviewed by Australia’s ABC NEWS after his second shot:
“I feel more confident now that I’m fully vaccinated and that if I come into contact with COVID I should be OK because I’m a diabetic. A lot of my people have been hesitant because of a misunderstanding of information, mostly on social media.”
His sudden death on September 15th, just six days after the event, has created even more hesitancy among Australia’s indigenous people to get vaccinated.
The South Burnett and Cherbourg indigenous communities were shocked upon hearing about his tragic death. A community member commented:
“I know that he will be remembered with absolute fondness by so many people in Queensland—not only in Cherbourg, Murgon, and the South Burnett district but across the wider Indigenous community in Queensland.”
The Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council posted this on Facebook:
