Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, cautioned that anti-vaccination posts are widespread on social media and encouraged those willing to get jabs, following a similar plea from his grandma, Queen Elizabeth II.
“Social media is awash with a lot of speculation and disinformation,” the Duke of Cambridge said in video footage released by Kensington Palace on Saturday night.
The royal family is speaking out when health authorities have expressed questions over lower representation in ethnic minority groups.
It revealed him and his partner Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, chatting to two women who are psychologically frail who will shortly be candidates for first-time jabs.
In a video call, a woman named Shivali, who has type 2 diabetes, said she had read a number of social media posts that made her “a little worried” about getting vaccinated at first, though she was now positive about getting the shot.
The Prince informed her, “We ought to be a little cautious who we trust and whom we get our facts from, particularly with those who are psychologically frail, it’s very crucial that these vaccines are carried out.”
“Catherine and I are by no means medical professionals, but if it’s any consolation that we can lend our full support to getting vaccines, it’s really, really necessary.”
Vaccine adoption has so far been “amazing,” the prince said, although the challenge now is to ensure that younger generations “know that it’s very important for them to have it.”
The video emerged after the 94-year-old Queen called for people to take the vaccine on Thursday, claiming it “didn’t hurt at all,” when she got it in January, along with Prince Philip.
She suggested that those who were reluctant to have the vaccination, “please care of other people rather than themselves.”
Her eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, 72, who last year had a moderate dose of Covid-19, also got his jab, as did his second wife, Camilla, 73.
To date, the United Kingdom has given more than 19 million people the first dose of vaccine after the introduction of the inoculation program in December.
