INTERVIEW: Grace's best friend died suddenly. Then came the vaccine debate

INTERVIEW: Grace's best friend died suddenly. Then came the vaccine debate

From Hack by triplej

June 10, 2026 · 24 min

About this episode

Grace Rouvray shares her experience of losing her best friend Katie Lees and navigating the ensuing vaccine debate.

Grace Rouvray knows Katie Lees was one of the true loves of her life, her best friend, her rock. After meeting at drama school, Katie became the most constant and important relationship in Grace's life. But in 2021, Katie died suddenly. She'd suffered a rare blood clot after having a COVID vaccine. In comment sections on social media, condolences were often drowned out by debate about the cause of Katie's death — people with wildly different opinions using her death as the chance to air them. In this long listen, Grace opens up about the pain of losing Katie, what it is like to grieve amid intense debate about Australia's vaccine response, and the power of platonic friendship. Guests: Grace Rouvray, author, Is It Too Early To Bitch? Get the whole story from hack: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok Subscribe to the hack podcast Listen on the triple j app or on your radio live every weeknight at 5:30pm

People in this episode

Guest: Grace Rouvray

Topics covered

  • grief
  • vaccine debate
  • friendship
  • loss
  • COVID-19

Keywords

  • grief
  • vaccine
  • friendship
  • COVID-19
  • loss
  • debate
  • social media

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: triplej

Books & works: Is It Too Early To Bitch?

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