The family of a man who died in his sleep has been left “devastated” after a politician falsely claimed his death was caused by the COVID-19 vaccine and concealed by the government.
Daniel Perkins had no signs of illness when he suddenly died in his sleep at his Shellharbour home in December.
His family, including his wife, Nikki, and their two eight-year-old sons, Logan and Jordi, have been grieving and finding every day difficult.
Then on Tuesday, in a speech to parliament, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts included Mr Perkins in his list of “victims” of COVID-19 vaccine injuries that have been “hidden behind government data”.
Senator Roberts said that “the very least we can do for the victims of Covid vaccines is to say their names”, and said Mr Perkins was “a 36-year-old healthy father from Albion Park (who) died of a heart attack in his sleep following his second Pfizer injection”.
But, Mr Perkins’ family isn’t aware of any evidence suggesting the vaccine contributed to his death.
His brother-in-law, Shane Anderson, spoke to 7News on Thursday and shared how his sister was “devastated” after seeing how her partner’s death was being used by Senator Roberts.
“The frustration and anger that I had this morning just knocks you off your feet a bit because you think, ‘How dare you? How dare you bring my brother’s name into it at such a terrible time in our life,” he said.
“We are just totally gutted that that was even suggested when we, as the family, don’t even have that information.”
Mr Anderson said the family was also disappointed since the information was “entirely untrue” and was “used without prior approval”.
“My sister had no one ring her up and ask for any of that kind of information, or even whether that was the case,” he added.
Mr Perkins’ family was told he had an “enlarged heart” at the time of his death, but that a definitive cause of death required an investigation by the coroner. The final post mortem results are still pending, as reported by 7News.
“For a politician to comment on something when it’s still under investigation is just absurd,” Shane said.
“We’d be more than willing to have a chat if it was true … (but) there’s been no information given to the family that would even suggest that is the case, and to be used in federal parliament as a pinboard is just disgraceful.
“If I could get an apology from him that would be very much appreciated.”
Mr Anderson said that “every day is hard” for his nephews and sister in the three months since Mr Perkins’ death.
“(The boys) have days where they say, ‘Dad used to do this with me’ or ‘Dad used to take me there’ and they’ll stop for a split second and have that ‘oh no’, but generally, they are two young eight-year-old boys living their life as they should,” he said.
“We’re just trying to do events and take them to all these things and keep them in a happy space.”
Senator Roberts is yet to comment on the situation.
Image: 7News
This article first appeared on OverSixty.