Sunrise star David ‘Kochie’ Koch has revealed he is being trolled by anti-vaxxers after revealing he had contracted COVID last week.
WATCH: Behind the scenes with Nat and Kochie
The host announced that he had tested positive for the virus following an appearance on the star-studded Red Cross Flood Appeal telethon on Saturday.
Kochie appeared on the telethon alongside a slew of Australian celebrities, which included Natalie Barr, Sylvia Jeffreys, and Carrie Bickmore.
Despite testing negative prior to his appearance on the program, Kochie said he had felt “shaggy” on Sunday – during which he tested positive for COVID.
“I tested negative on Saturday lunchtime ahead of the Australia Unites broadcast but then woke up feeling a bit shaggy on Sunday morning, which I initially put down to the late finish and sharing the bottle of red wine that Sylvia and Dr Chris insisted we share (that’s my version and I’m sticking with it),” he said in a statement.
“But then I tested again and it came in positive. Symptoms are mild and I’m following the health orders.”
Since announcing the news, Kochie revealed that he had been attacked by anti-vaxxers who ridiculed him for contracting the virus despite being triple vaccinated.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, the 66-year-old explained, “It has not stopped my anti-vaxx friends/trolls on social media getting stuck into me going, ‘so much for vaccines, Kochie has got it’.
“It is not really the point. Hopefully, a bad head cold is all it affects me. That is the reason you do it. I am married to a nurse so I am in very good hands.”
Kochie has famously dealt with anti-vaxxer trolls after discussing COVID on Sunrise since the beginning of the pandemic, though he’s adamant that the nasty comments don’t affect him.
“I just say, ‘read the facts, don’t take my word for it,’” Koch said.
“That is why I retweet all of the top epidemiologists. I am not an epidemiologist but I take the advice of the experts and that is all you have got to do.”
As for how the veteran TV star is recovering, he joked that his nurse wife Libby had him on “strict conditions”.
“She is dosing me up with everything from olive leaf extract through to high-performance vitamin C to Codral and saying these are the boundaries that you can walk and can’t walk and you wear a mask so I am very well organised.”
