Emily Andre has said she understands Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s tears over the COVID-19 vaccine, as the politician has had ‘the worst year of his working life.’
The NHS doctor wife of singer Peter Andre, 31, told OK! Magazine that she had felt emotional when she saw elderly people receive the first approved coronavirus vaccines, days after Hancock burst into tears on Good Morning Britain on ‘V-Day.’
She said: ‘I didn’t quite shed a tear like Health Secretary Matt Hancock but I thought it was quite sweet he got emotional on Good Morning Britain
Breakthrough: Emily Andre has said she understands Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s tears over the COVID-19 vaccine, as the politician has had ‘the worst year of his working life’
‘He must have had the worst year of his life at work after being interrogated and slated so he must just feel relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
‘It also shows people that he does actually care as I know that’s often been questioned.’
The Health Secretary started sobbing last week after a 90-year-old grandmother from Coventry and a Warwickshire pensioner called William Shakespeare became the first people in the world to get an approved coronavirus vaccine as the country took a gigantic step towards ending the pandemic on ‘V-Day’.
The NHS started the biggest vaccination drive in British history at 50 hospital sites where the UK’s new weapon in the war on Covid-19 is being rolled out to the over-80s, the vulnerable and frontline hospital and care home staff.
Moment in history: The NHS doctor wife of singer Peter Andre, 31, told OK! Magazine that she had felt emotional when she saw elderly people receive the first approved coronavirus vaccines, days after Hancock burst into tears on ‘V-Day’
Up to 5,000 people were expected to be inoculated on the first day- around 100 people in each centre – with 800,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine already in the country.
Margaret Keenan was the first person in the world to receive the jab since it was approved by the UK’s regulator – calling it ‘the best early birthday present I could wish for’ after self-isolating alone since March.
Incredibly the next to get the jab was 81-year-old William Shakespeare from near Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, who appeared so relaxed many joked that to him, being the second person in the world to be vaccinated was ‘much ado about nothing’.
She said: ‘He must have had the worst year of his life at work after being interrogated and slated so he must just feel relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel’ (pictured on December 10)
Mr Hancock wiped away tears as he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: ‘It’s been such a tough year for so many people and there’s William Shakespeare putting it simply for everybody that we can get on with our lives’.
On Monday, Mr Hancock announced millions of Londoners are to be plunged into a Tier 3 shutdown just days before Christmas as coronavirus cases in the capital soar ‘off the chart’.
He told the city’s MPs that the tough new rules will come into effect just after midnight on Wednesday morning – less than 48 hours time.
The move, opposed by many MPs and firms, could devastate businesses just days before Christmas, with pubs, restaurants and culture venues closed, while shoppers from Tier 2 zones would be barred from shopping in its major retail hubs like Oxford Street.
West End theatres are also readying themselves to close after tomorrow night’s performances.
MPs were warned this morning that there was ‘exponential growth’ in cases in London’s boroughs and some of the major commuter areas like Hertfordshire and Essex, which will also go into Tier 3.
In November, Emily said she ‘would’t hesitate’ to get the Covid-19 vaccine but says everyone should be entitled to treatment, whatever their beliefs.
Hopeful: In November, Emily said she ‘would’t hesitate’ to get the Covid-19 vaccine but says everyone should be entitled to treatment, whatever their beliefs
Speaking in her weekly OK! magazine column, the star said she won’t be at the front of the queue to get the ‘exciting’ vaccine because others are more ‘deserving’.
She said: I’ve obviously had coronavirus in the last six months though, so I’m not going to rush to the front of the queue, as there are healthcare workers in their sixties and seventies and some who have underlying health conditions.
Saying she’s ‘happy to wait her turn’ Emily addressed people’s concerns that the vaccine has been rushed through in eight months when a vaccine can take up to 8-10 years to typically be approved.
She said that there haven’t been any safety concerns in the trials of more than 40,000 people and she hopes this is the start of getting back to normality.
Emily said that while she is very pro-vaccinations, she doesn’t believe you can punish people who believe otherwise and refuse them NHS treatment if they fall ill from coronavirus.
She said: ‘There are people who choose to smoke and we don’t refuse to give them NHS treatment, even though we know smoking is bad for you. Everyone has the right to make decisions about their own health.’
Emily added that the most important thing is to make sure people who don’t want the vaccination are armed with all the relevant information.
Back in June, Emily revealed she had tested positive for coronavirus, but says that does not mean she now has immunity.
She said she had suspected she had caught the disease and had protected her family by quarantining herself away from husband Peter and their children.
Pro vaccine: Emily previously tested positive for COVID-19 and isolated away from husband Peter and their two children