The president of AMA Victoria has clarified his comments after urging anti-vaxxers to “opt out” of the public health system if they contracted COVID-19.

“A whole lot of these people are passionate disbelievers that the virus even exists,” Dr Roderick McRae told The Guardian on Thursday.

“And they should notify their nearest and dearest and ensure there’s an advance care directive that says, ‘If I am diagnosed with this disease caused by a virus that I don’t believe exists, I will not disturb the public hospital system, and I’ll let nature run its course’.

“We know as we reopen, it’s the unvaccinated who are going to get COVID-19, and they are going to get great hospital treatment with many new experimental drugs even though they think the vaccine is ‘experimental’.”