Why Did Australia Give Djokovic a Vaccine Exemption in The First Place?

Barring an 11th hour appeal, Australia will be deporting tennis superstar Novak Djokovic back to Serbia and will not compete in this year's Australian Open.

Earlier this week, Djokovic received a medical exemption from getting a COVID vaccine which caused a national uproar in Australia which has amongst toughest mitigation measures and strictest vaccine requirements in the world. As of this writing, 78% of Australians are fully vaccinated. Needless to say, the Serbian government isn't happy what is happening with their most famous citizen. Then again perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that Serbia's fully vaccinated rate is at 46% just behind Russia and just ahead of Kazakhstan which is in the midst of political upheaval.

It was initially claimed that Djokovic's exemption had gone through "a rigorous process", but authorities including Prime Minister Scott Morrison did an about face following the backlash. 

After this spectacle one must ask why Djokovic received a medical exemption of any sort. After all, in June 2020, Djokovic hosted a tennis tournament in Croatia which flouted social distancing rules resulting in COVID outbreak. 

The simplest answer is that Djokovic doesn't think the rules apply to him and surely Australian tennis officials and some governmental officials felt the same. Had Djokovic won the Australian Open he would have become the winningest Grand Slam champion in tennis history with 22 titles (including 10 Australian Open titles) surpassing both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. To have Djokovic break the record on Aussie soil would have been quite the feather in the cap of Australian tennis. 

All of this would have been fine had Djokovic been vaccinated. But matters of life and death require us all to sacrifice for the greater good. Australians have had to do a great deal of sacrifice and for Djokovic to not only disrespect this sacrifice, but flout this disrespect was too much of an insult to bear. Being the greatest tennis player in the world simply isn't as important as ending a global pandemic much less exempt one from doing their part. Still, Djokovic couldn't have entered Australia without some help from some of their own. They too must answer for their actions.