MP SUPPORTS QUEEN ON JAB
FABRICANT SAYS PEOPLE SHOULDN’T FORGET HOW KILLER SMALLPOX WAS DEFEATED
A STAFFORDSHIRE MP who has had his first Covid jab has said the Queen is right when she says people should think about others if they are in two minds about having the vaccination.
Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant received the vaccine at the cathedral in his constituency and referred to the Queen’s intervention to the vaccination debate in a video call last week.
He said: “As the Queen has said: Get vaccinated - if not for your own protection, for the protection of others. Only by doing this can we eradicate Covid and the risk of it producing variants.
“We succeeded only a few years back with smallpox which was present in Britain and was a killer. Now, the disease has been eradicated worldwide through vaccination. But this needs everyone or nearly everyone to be vaccinated.”
The Queen said her Covid-19 jab “didn’t hurt at all” as she encouraged those hesitant about vaccination to “think about other people rather than themselves”.
The head of state, who was inoculated in January, said after having the vaccine you felt “protected”, which she described as “important” during a video call with health leaders delivering the Covid-19 vaccine across the four nations.
Asked for “feedback” about her vaccination experience, she chuckled as she told the officials “it was quite harmless”.
During the conversation held last Tuesday, the head of state likened the coronavirus to a “plague” that has swept across the globe, and when a health leader said he wanted to “bottle” the community unity he had encountered the Queen suggested it was like the wartime spirit she experienced.
Once you’ve had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected.
The Queen
The Queen spoke to the four senior responsible officers overseeing the delivery of the vaccine in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to hear about the collaborative effort which has passed the milestone of 18 million people vaccinated in the UK since the call was made.
She praised the vaccine rollout, describing its speed and the millions inoculated as “remarkable” and in a morale boost told the health leaders to “keep up the good work”.
Dr Emily Lawson, who is leading the vaccine deployment programme for the NHS in England, told the Queen: “We hope everyone who is offered the vaccine will take it up, because it is … all of our best chances to protect both the people who take up the vaccine, their families and their communities.”
The monarch replied: “Once you’ve had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you’re protected, which is, I think very important.
“I think the other thing is, that it is obviously difficult for people if they’ve never had a vaccine…but they ought to think about other people rather than themselves.”
She added: “I think it is remarkable how quickly the whole thing has been done and so many people have had the vaccine already.”
Mr Fabricant said around 18 million people had been given a jab since so far in the UK, adding: “Everyone with serious underlying health conditions and unpaid carers along with all adults aged 50, or over, will be offered the vaccination by the 15th April.
“And Boris Johnson has said that every single adult in the UK will be offered their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of July.
“This is a fantastic achievement and I applaud the doctors, nurses, and volunteers who have all worked so hard to achieve this along with those who planned the vaccine purchase all those months ago. Britain along with Israel leads the world in this.”