Sometimes being a hero is helping a ragtag party to destroy the One Ring, and sometimes it’s leading by example. Earlier today, Sir Ian McKellen shared a photograph of himself receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. “I feel very lucky to have had the vaccine,” he wrote on Twitter. “I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone.”
Via BBC and itv, the 81-year-old McKellen accepted his inoculation at Queen Mary’s University Hospital in London from Dr. Phil Bennett-Richards. The procedure took less than ten seconds, and afterwards the acclaimed actor bumped elbows with his GP.
“Next time I come — well no, six days after I next come I’m going to give them all a big hug,” McKellen said, referring to the vaccine’s second booster dose. “Is [hugging] allowed? I don’t know.”
He added, “Anyone who has lived as long as I have is alive because they have had previous vaccinations.” He also praised Britain’s National Health Service, saying,
“Of course, I know I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for the NHS. I’m a little bit older than the NHS but when I was a kid, having good medical treatment available when it was needed — what a wonderful notion, and what a wonderful definition of what we are as a nation. It’s a National Health Service. We’re all equal.”
Editors’ Picks
Watching celebrities respond to the vaccines has been revealing, if not always enlightening. Black Panther’s Letitia Wright promoted anti-vax conspiracy theories, and director Oliver Stone received the controversial Russian vaccine. Dolly Parton, meanwhile, took measures into her own hands, donating $1 million to the development of the Moderna vaccine.
If the COVID vaccine is safe for Sir Ian McKellen (aka Gandalf) then it’s safe enough for me…pic.twitter.com/RyAkxydl6z
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) December 17, 2020
Editor’s Note: Stay safe by picking up one of our custom face masks. A portion of the proceeds will benefit MusiCares’ COVID-19 Artist Relief fund supporting independent musicians.
