SIR Paul McCartney has given the Covid vaccine a major shot in the arm — by vowing to be among the first big names to receive the jab in the UK.
The Beatles legend, 78, will be among the third tier of people eligible to receive the jab alongside other over-75s, and said he believes it will finally offer Britain a way out from the pandemic crisis.
In an exclusive interview with Trending In The News’s Something For The Weekend today, Sir Paul tells how he is eager to be back on stage as soon as possible after being forced to miss out on headlining Glastonbury Festival after it was cancelled this year.
He said: “The vaccine will get us out of this. I think we’ll come through it, I know we’ll come through, and it’s great news about the vaccine. I’ll have it as soon as I’m allowed.”
His comments come as polls show eight per cent of Brits do not want the jab — but 76 per cent say they are keen to have it.
Almost 138,000 people had it in the first week — with 25million set to have it by Easter.
Sir Paul said: “I mean it’s going to be very difficult for a while yet, because you can’t just lock down a whole country unless you’re China.
“We can’t have that kind of lack of freedom, we’re all brought up to enjoy this great freedom that we have in a democracy.
“So if somebody says, particularly to younger people, ‘Look, you’ve just got to stay in Saturday night,’ I can’t imagine that all those girls you see in Liverpool in the freezing cold in the tiniest of mini-skirts on a Saturday night in the middle of winter, I’m not sure you can say to them, ‘Look, you’ve got to stay home’.”
Sir Paul is currently promoting his new album McCartney III — the third in a long-running trilogy that he wrote and recorded during this year’s lockdown. And he said he is keen to be back on stage “whenever I can”. He said: “Like everyone, we’re all on hold. You just don’t know what’s going to happen from one second to the next.
“I was talking to a mate of mine who is a musician and he said to me, ‘When do you think we’ll get back?’ And I said, ‘You mean on the road and stuff? I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe next year?’
“And he said, ‘No, two years’. And he’s not a sort of downer this guy, he’s very positive but he really didn’t think we could pull it together any sooner, so we’ll see.
“People have started to find ways with Zoom and with socially distanced things. But for a thing like Glastonbury where you’ve got over 100,000 people packed into a field, that’s a super-spreader you know.
“But I’ll be glad when we can get back, it will be a nice change to actually play to some people.”
Meanwhile, Lord of the Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen, 81, had his jab at London’s Queen Mary University Hospital on Wednesday.
Afterwards he said: “It’s a very special day. I feel euphoric.”
