A South Australian woman who paid a vulnerable person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in her name has broken down in court as her lawyer described her overwhelming amount of fear and anxiety in the lead-up to the jab.
Chapel Hill woman Susan Louise Clarke, 53, admitted to deceiving SA Health in January 2022, because she needed evidence of the vaccination for her employment.
Police previously said Clarke accompanied Tania Marshall to the Mount Barker vaccination clinic and deceived SA Health workers into giving the 57-year-old the vaccine in her name by pretending to be her carer.
During sentencing submissions, both the prosecution and defence agreed that a conviction and fine would be appropriate in Clarke's case.
In a statement, Ms Marshall said she had been stigmatised and belittled by members of the public since the incident became public.
"I no longer enjoy going out," Ms Marshall said.
"Since the incident many stores in Mount Barker will not allow me to make a purchase without a support worker present."
Ms Marshall said she had chest pain, panic attacks and vomiting after the dose and said she would like to spend any compensation that she would receive on counselling.
Clarke's lawyer, Marie Shaw KC, said she was remorseful for her actions and had asked her employer if she could wait for the arrival of protein-based vaccine Novavax, which had not been approved at the time.
"Her employer denied the request," Ms Shaw said.
"This isn't the case of someone who was an anti-vaxxer – this is someone who … engaged in reading that led her to believe that there were side effects of the vaccine on offer."
Ms Shaw said Clarke had even tried to be bitten by a snake to put off her employer's deadline to receive the vaccine.
"In light of her mother's death from breast cancer she arrived at the irrational belief that she herself might similarly have that outcome," Ms Shaw said.
She will be sentenced later this month.
