Kellermayr was also an enthusiastic supporter of vaccines, sharing her thoughts and ideas on Twitter, and was interviewed regularly, earning praise for her clear communication.
However, she drew a wave of hate mail after tweeting her fury when, in November 2021, anti-vaccination demonstrators and supporters of the “Querdenker” coronavirus conspiracy theory movement surrounded a clinic she had worked at in nearby Wels and blocked a main entrance used by emergency vehicles.
Kellermayr urged the police to offer her protection, but she claimed they did not take her situation seriously and she employed a security guard to stand outside her practice and check patients before they entered.
The guard told German and Austrian media in February that he had frequently turned people away and removed several butterfly knives from others who entered the practice.
Kellermayr said in June she had spent €100,000 (£84,000) on security costs, adding: “It would be cheaper to shut the practice and to fly to the South Pacific with my staff.” Last month, she said she had been forced to close her practice for good.
In her final interview, with the respected Austrian daily Der Standard, Kellermayr said she felt abandoned by the Austrian state. “What has happened to me can happen to any citizen who is not well known or is not well connected,” she said.
Police in Germany, meanwhile, told Kellermayr that they were unable to act against a man who was sending her threats because his messages were sent from the darknet, to which they had no access.
But reporters from Der Standard said they had little difficulty in tracing the suspect to the Berlin area, identifying him as a figure from the neo-Nazi scene. Journalists also managed to trace a man from Upper Bavaria who had threatened to put Kellermayr before a “tribune of the people”, accusing her of treason.
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