Western Morning News (Saturday)
The things they say
■ “I don’t know which vaccine I will get offered, but if I am offered the AstraZeneca vaccine I will take the AstraZeneca vaccine and I will not have any hesitation in doing so”
- Scotland’s First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon.
■ “Throughout recent months we have seen that the Secretary of State is indeed woodenheaded, is indeed a puppet, is limp and spineless”
- Robin Bevan, president of the National Education Union, speaking about Education Secretary
Gavin Williamson.
■ “Somehow I seem to have gone viral and to say I am overwhelmed is an understatement indeed. I don’t quite know how it has happened or what we have unleashed but I am completely bemused!”
- 85-year-old Alan Melinek, from Watford, whose piano playing has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on
TikTok.
■ “Despite what has happened to Neil and the impact on our family, I still strongly believe that people should go ahead and have the vaccine. If you’ve had one dose, go ahead and have your second. If you haven’t had your dose yet make sure that you do. Because, overall, we will save more lives by people having the vaccine than not”
- Alison Astles, whose brother, Neil Astles, 59, died of a blood clot on Sunday after getting the AstraZeneca vaccine on
March 17. ■ “Something like 30 or 40 people drown in the bath every year, something like 1,000 people die falling down the stairs, something like 200 die from choking on their breakfast, and that’s many, many more deaths than we get from these vaccines so actually taking the vaccine is actually one of the safer things you do in the day, it’s definitely safer than cycling or driving to work. So these are incredibly rare events”