If the COVID Vaccine Is Good Enough For Sir Ian McKellen, It’s Good Enough For You

By James Sainte-Claire December 17, 2020

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Vaccines are good. Aside from antibiotics, vaccines have probably saved more lives than any other medical advancement in history. Despite what the hippies, weirdos and Christian Scientists might tell you, vaccines are good and you should get them.

We now have a vaccine (maybe two by the time you read this) that’s been approved in the US and UK for COVID and that is something you should get when it’s available and you should encourage people you love to get it.

If you need more convincing, well, Sir Ian McKellen got the vaccine and if it’s good enough for him, a national treasure, it’s good enough for you.

I feel very lucky to have had the vaccine. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. https://t.co/gBLRR0OeJc

— Ian McKellen (@IanMcKellen) December 17, 2020

Now, the vaccine available today requires two doses taken 21 days apart, and it’s the second dose that will make you sick for a few days like a season flu vaccine can. McKellan got the first dose today so he’ll probably be pretty miserable in 22 days, but he’ll be a lot less miserable than if he got COVID.

CNN reports McKellan was eligible to receive the vaccine because of his advanced age, as people over 80 are at the top of the list and McKellen is 81.

Speaking after receiving the jab, McKellen is quoted in the press release as saying: “I feel honored to have received the Covid-19 vaccine and I would urge anyone who is offered the vaccine to take up the offer — it took a few minutes and then it was done.

“I really hope that, as more people get vaccinated, we will move further along the path back to a more normal way of life, particularly for the arts which have suffered so much this year.

“We all have a part to play in the fight against coronavirus and doing our bit and getting vaccinated will save lives.”

That statement to me is reminiscent of when Sir Ian came out of the closet in 1988 while fighting a homophobic law the Thatcher government enacted; at the time he said “My own participating in that campaign was a focus for people [to] take comfort that if Ian McKellen was on board for this, perhaps it would be all right for other people to be as well, gay and straight.”

So if you’re worried about the COVID vaccine, do you really think they’d give it to Gandalf if it wasn’t safe?

#ian mckellen