THE QUEEN ‘WILL GET VACCINE IN WEEKS’

Royals are expected to set example to boost take-up of vital Covid jab

THE Queen is expected to receive the Covid-19 vaccine within weeks – and then reveal she has been given it to encourage more people to take up the vital jab.

Senior sources say both the 94-year-old Monarch and Prince Philip, 99, will not get preferential treatment, but will instead ‘wait in line’ during the first wave of injections reserved for the over80s and care home residents. Both are expected to accept the offer of the injection on the advice of their doctors.

Public health experts believe that if the couple go public about the jab, it could go a long way to combating misinformation spread by conspiracy theorists which, it’s feared, could lead to a substantial proportion of the population refusing the vaccine.

Discussions are also under way about the potential roles that could be played by Prince Charles and Prince William in publicising the vaccination programme. But

courtiers are wary that doing so might be seen as ‘politicising’ the family, as well as amounting to an invasion of their medical privacy.

However, the participation of the Queen in backing the jabs would be seen as a rallying cry to the nation.

In 1957, she let it be known that Charles and Princess Anne had been given polio jabs to counter fears about the vaccine.

The possible role of the Royals is being discussed at Buckingham Palace and in Whitehall, where officials are debating whether respected celebrities such as Sir David Attenborough and Dame Judi Dench could also be deployed as public cheerleaders for the vaccine.

To avoid any accusations of favouritism, senior members of the Royal Family will be offered immunisation at the same time as others in their age groups.

It means the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are unlikely to be vaccinated until next year, when those in their 30s are invited for jabs.

Sources said the couple ‘are keen to support everyone who has been involved’.

William has been closely following progress of the vaccine being developed by a team at Oxford University.

He visited their research laboratory in June and last month publicly congratulated them when their jab was found to be 90 per cent effective.

Operation Courageous, the UK’s biggest ever mass vaccination programme, will swing into action on Tuesday.

A batch arrived in Scotland in specially refrigerated trucks early yesterday morning and were immediately driven to secret storage locations.

In other developments yesterday:

● A further 22 deaths were recorded in Scotland, with 777 new cases – bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 99,463. There are 945 people in Scots hospitals, with 64 patients in intensive care;

● By Tuesday, it is expected that 65,500 doses of the new vaccine will have arrived in Scotland, enough to treat almost 33,000 people;

● Families could soon be able to hug their loved ones again thanks to a new programme of ‘rapid covid tests’ being trialled in Scotland’s care homes;

● A bombshell report by a think-tank has claimed that the Scottish Government is ‘behind the curve’ on plans to immunise people;

● The Scottish Qualifications Authority is working to finalise a fair method for grading pupils should Higher exams have to be cancelled;

● The SNP was accused of failing to properly fund police to implement bans on travelling between Covid tiers, with only 61 Scots fined for breaches between November 18 and December 2;

● Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer went into self-isolation after a member of his staff tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, vaccine trials for pregnant women will begin in summer, the head of Oxford’s immunisation programme said.

Until now, mothers-to-be had been told they will not be part of the UK’s vaccination programme next year – another blow on top of the failure of Covid tests to be rolled out to maternity wards.

But professor Sarah Gilbert, project leader for the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and drugs firm AstraZeneca, said pregnant women were an ‘important group’ to include in trials.

Pregnant women cannot have the rival Pfizer jab.

Last night, Downing Street declined to comment on whether the Queen would be receiving a vaccine.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘Medical decisions are personal.

‘This is not something we will comment on.’