The former Aston Villa striker Stan Collymore has ignited a Twitter storm after suggesting people should ‘stay informed’ before deciding to take the new Covid-19 vaccine.
The football pundit took to social media to tell fans they needed to ‘be informed’ about the new coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech which experts have said proved to be 90 per cent effective.
In a post on Twitter Mr Collymore shared a list of facts about the new vaccine and told followers: ‘Be informed, stay informed then make your own choice’.
It comes after it was revealed the UK could get 10million doses of the new vaccine by Christmas after early results from the clinical trial by Pfizer and BioNTech suggested nine out of 10 people who get their jab are protected by it.
Stan Collymore ignited a Twitter storm after taking to social media and telling fans they needed to ‘be informed’ about the new coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech
In his tweet the former Aston Villa striker told his followers: ‘Be informed, stay informed then make your own choice’
One user slammed the football pundit and asked him to ‘listen to people who have spent their lives studying and building expertise in this area’
Mr Collymore explained that he had made a ‘throw away’ comment’ and liked his treatments to be ‘closer to 100 per cent’
Following the tweet users rushed to the social media platform to slam Mr Collymore’s comments, with some asking that he ‘encourage people to listen to the science’.
Defending his comments, the former footballer later said: ‘I’ll take my cue from the Dr’s I use, who for 30+ years have managed to keep me informed, advised meds or treatment only when necessary and are world class in their field.
‘You and yours do whatever you like and I wish you the very best of health doing it!’
The former striker also refuted claims he was telling followers to ignore the science and explained that he would rather the treatment for the virus be ‘nearer 100 than 90 per cent’.
He added: ‘Find anywhere where I’ve encouraged anyone to ignore science. I made a throw away comment that I like my treatments nearer 100 than 90.’
He continued: ‘That’s great. So people can use the information that you’ve provided as a starting point as to whether they take it or not. As with every other vaccine available.
‘Unless you’re saying it should be legally enforced on people because it’s safe and effective?’
He later added: ‘So as I’ve said repeatedly, find one shred of evidence that I am anti vaccine, or be incredibly careful what you are alleging.’
It comes as it was revealed that the UK could get 10million doses of the coronavirus vaccine by Christmas and be ‘back to normal’ by the Spring after one of the leading candidates proved to be 90 per cent effective.
The football pundit refuted claims he was telling followers to ignore the science and explained that he would rather the treatment for the virus be ‘nearer 100 than 90 per cent’
Stock markets around the world surged this morning when Pfizer and BioNTech revealed early results from a massive clinical trial suggest nine out of 10 people who get their jab are protected by it.
Boris Johnson is due to hold a press conference at 5pm to update the public on the optimistic news.
The PM’s spokesman cautioned that there were ‘no guarantees’, but branded the results ‘promising’ and held out the prospect of millions of doses of the vaccine being in circulation by Christmas if it wins approval.
‘In total, we’ve procured 40million doses of the Pfizer candidate vaccine, with 10million of those doses being manufactured and available to the UK by the end of the year if the vaccine is approved by the regulators,’ the spokesman said.
Professor Sir John Bell, a member of the government’s vaccine task force, said he was ‘confident’ life will now be back to normal by the Spring. ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes. I am probably the first guy to say that but I will say that with some confidence,’ he told the BBC Radio 4’s World at One.
Pfizer and BioNTech said early results from a massive clinical trial suggested nine out of 10 people who get their jab are protected by it
The company’s chairman hailed the breakthrough a ‘great day for science’ while independent experts said the results were ‘excellent’ and ‘really impressive’.
Pfizer and German partner BioNTech are the first drugmakers to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine.
They said that 94 people in a trial of more than 43,000 have so far tested positive for Covid-19, and that over 90 per cent of those did not receive the real vaccine.
They were in the placebo group, where people are given a fake vaccine so that what happens to them can be compared with those who get the real thing. Pfizer’s trial has split the participants half and half across the placebo and vaccine groups.
The companies have not revealed the exact number but a 90 per cent efficacy rate suggests that no more than eight people who got the vaccine caught the virus, compared to 86 of those who received a fake jab.
Their next step is expected to be to apply for ’emergency use authorisation’ in the US, for which they will have to go to the Food & Drug Administration once they have two months’ worth of safety data – expected to be complete by the end of this month.
If it is approved in the US, the UK could follow suit soon after.