Queen praised for Covid-19 vaccination call
THE Queen’s comments during a video call about the importance of getting vaccinated against Covid-19 were explored in a number of yesterday’s newspaper opinion columns.
The Daily Mail
“During seven decades on the throne, it has been impossible to know conclusively what the Queen thinks on any major political and public issue. And rightly so,” the paper said in its leader comment.
“Public trust in the monarchy – and in the country’s delicate constitutional balance – relies on such neutrality.
“So when this woman of such wisdom does speak, her impeccably timed and perfectly calibrated words pack unequalled power.
“And so it is with her regal pronouncement on vaccine sceptics and refuseniks: ‘They ought to think about other people rather than themselves.’”
No one should be bullied into having jabs, the paper said.
“But the Queen, who at 94 had hers weeks ago, seeks through her powerful broadside to persuade any waverers that their fears are unfounded,” it went on.
“When the longest-reigning monarch in our history speaks such sense, every single person should listen.
“She has spent a lifetime serving the nation – now the nation must do its duty.”
The Daily Telegraph
The paper used its leader comment to welcome the Queen’s intervention.
“The Queen has a unique ability to tap into the historical consciousness of the nation,” it said.
“During the video call, one participant said that if he could bottle this community spirit and use it for other purposes, he would. ‘Wouldn’t it be nice,’ replied the Queen, invoking her experience of the war.
“There have been errors in public policy in the past year, but also a great deal of selflessness of the variety that Her Majesty has always promoted.”
The Daily Express
“Lives may well be saved thanks to the Queen’s unequivocal message that everyone should be vaccinated against Covid-19,” the paper said.
“The monarch’s intervention could be just what is needed to persuade thousands of waverers to get the jab.
“Her Majesty appealed to a sense of public service, saying that those holding back ‘ought to think about other people rather than themselves’. Throughout her life, the Queen has put the interests of the whole nation first – and so should we.”
The paper said that if we want to stop Covid-19 in its tracks, it is “imperative” everyone is inoculated. “We should listen to our Queen – a leader who is indisputably worthy of our trust – and tune out the dangerous nonsense circulated by deluded anti-vaccination conspiracy peddlers,” it continued.
“The 94-year-old monarch has led by example throughout the crisis. First by social distancing and then by having a jab.
“She remembers the unity and courage the country displayed during the Second World War and she wants all of us to play our part in liberating Britain from this virus. The Queen has never shirked her duty and nor should we.”