Chelsea Pensioner says Covid-19 booster jabs ‘best thing for the country’

John Byrne, 70, rolled up his sleeve in the grand state apartment of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
Chelsea Pensioner John Byrne receives a Covid-19 booster vaccination from deputy chief nurse Vanessa Sloane at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
PA Wire
Sophie Wingate5 October 2021

A Chelsea Pensioner was elated to receive a Covid-19 booster jab, joining more than a million people to get a “top-up” vaccine since the launch of the campaign in England.

John Byrne, 70, rolled up his sleeve in the grand state apartments of the Royal Hospital Chelsea on Tuesday.

“Thank you, that was brilliant!” he told the nurse after she had administered a dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

He said he felt “good” about getting his booster and that it was “time to do it”, having received his second dose in March.

Don’t worry at all. Have the booster jab. It can only do good... It can only be the best thing for the country

John Byrne

Mr Byrne, who served in the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment and later with the 37 Signal Regiment, including in Afghanistan in 2007, joked that he was ex-Army and therefore not scared of needles.

Asked what he would tell anyone having doubts about getting the booster, he said: “Don’t worry at all. Have the booster jab. It can only do good… It can only be the best thing for the country.”

Mr Byrne said moving into the Royal Hospital Chelsea three years ago after losing his wife turned his life around.

While the pandemic had been “hard”, he praised the home’s governor for treating the lockdown “like a military operation”.

“Had he not done that we would’ve lost a lot of people,” Mr Byrne said.

Vanessa Sloane, deputy chief nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital told Mr Byrne that booster vaccinations were “likely” going to be an annual programme as she prepared to administer his jab.

Chelsea Pensioner John Byrne talks to deputy chief nurse Vanessa Sloane (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
PA Wire

Many of Mr Byrne’s fellow residents at the retirement home have already received their booster jabs, which are delivered six months after the second dose.

“They’ve been great, so organised, of course it’s military precision as you expect, but they’ve been incredibly welcoming and great fun for our team as we’ve gone around to vaccinate them,” Ms Sloane said.

“[It’s] really important to have that third vaccine just to make sure you’re boosting the immunity of the population as much as we can,” she said. “We’ve had some really, really sick people and this is our best chance of getting out of this.”

NHS England’s online portal opened on September 21, with a further one million invites being sent to eligible people last week, including those who are clinically vulnerable, health and care workers and people aged 50 and over.

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the Covid-19 vaccination programme, said: “It is terrific to see the enthusiasm for booster vaccines, with the Chelsea Pensioners joining more than one million people who have already booked in for their vital top-up dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“An incredible 80 million doses have been given since the vaccination programme started, and the booster rollout builds on that protection as we head into winter – I would urge everyone to come forward for their booster vaccine when they are invited, to protect themselves and their loved ones.”

The health service is also inviting 16 to 49-year-olds with underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of severe symptoms and adults who have household contact with immunosuppressed individuals to book a top-up jab.

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