Lies Are Spreading About Jock Zonfrillo's Death

 The sudden death of Jock Zonfrillo has shocked the nation since the news broke Monday afternoon.

However, conspiracy theorists were quick to attack.

Not even hours after the announcement, anti-vaxxers had begun posting to social media, falsley implying his death was due to the COVID vaccine.

The Masterchef judge passed away in Melbourne during the early hours of May 1st. Victoria Police issued a statement claiming officers appeared at a hotel on Lygon Street for a welfare check, locating a deceased man at around 2AM.

No cause of death has been released as of yet, police have addressed his death is not being treated as suspicious, and a report is being made for a coroner.

Conspiracy theorists however, won't stop their disinformation spreading.

“Did Jock Zonfrillo get the Pfizer or Moderna RNA vaccine?” said one Twitter user.

“The mainstream media has been reporting countless such ‘sudden deaths’ with ‘no cause of death given’,” an anti-vaxxer wrote on Facebook on May 2nd.

“Since when are death reports being provided with no cause given?

“I know since when: since they rolled out those experimental Covid vaccines, which are dropping people faster than they can clue in that it is murdering them. The mainstream media and medical establishment will never admit it – they omit the REAL reason someone died by saying ‘no immediate cause of death was given’.”

These comments have provoked all kinds of backlash from Australians who take are trying to take out "cookers," saying they are taking advantage of a sad tragedy to push their cause.

“Of course the putrid cookers have already come out, saying it was the Covid vaccine that killed Jock Zonfrillo. They really are opportunistic scum. RIP Jock,” one person wrote in response to the lies.

“I’m always unsurprised at the amount of cookers that come out of the woodwork when a celebrity dies. Shame on anyone who is using Jock Zonfrillo’s death to push their anti-vax vile rhetoric,” said another.

March this year showed two reports revealed a spike in Australian and New Zealand deaths in recent years.

An article published by UK-based website The Exposé has claimed New Zealand deaths have increased by 3203% between 2020 and 2022 due to COVID vaccinations.

AAP FactCheck, has since proved this allegation as false, experts claiming the shocking number is being based on a “nonsensical calculation” and that vaccines have not caused a spike in deaths.

A study in Australia, released earlier this year has found that Australia is experiencing the highest excess mortality rates in over 80 years.

The Actuaries Institute has claimed a 12% increase in excess deaths in 2022, mostly those aged 65 and over. Out of the additional 20,000 deaths, 10,300 were described a COVID-19 related, another 2,900 where the virus was only a contributing factor.

Anti-vaxxers are claiming these reports as "proof" of the dangers of vaccines, however, two leading experts in vaccines have come out swinging at the misinformation.

Associate Professor James Trauer, head of Monash University's epidemiological modelling unit has said this year "virtually none" of the excess deaths were caused by vaccines.

“I can’t say none of it, because a tiny handful of deaths were due to vaccines, but we understand the causes of this increase in death rates, and essentially, vaccines have not contributed."

Peter Collignon, Australian National University professor, who is an expert on infectious disease and has previouslyy worked for the World Health Organisation, said vaccine-related deathss were “pretty minimal” and that “for any death that might be attributed to vaccines, thousands could have been prevented."

Zonfrillo was Scottish-born, becoming a renowned chech of the Orana restuarant in South Australia and took on the Channel 10 program Masterchef in 2019 for the 2020 season, which he was on alongside Melissa Leong and Andy Allen.

This year's Masterchef production was concluded about a month ago as Zonfrillo was understood to have been in Europe on a family holiday in recent weeks.

It was reported that his wife Lauren, along with his children Alfie (6) and Isla (2) stayed in Rome while Jock flew home early ahead of the season launching.

Jock was also father to two adult children, Ava and Sophia, which come from his first two marriages.

The premiere of this season's Masterchef was bumped to start next week out of respect for his passing. It was replaced with Paramount Plus reality series 'The Bridge.'