Last week, we heard that Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will all take the coronavirus vaccine, and they’ll likely publicize themselves actually getting the shot(s) too, with either photos or videos. The point was that President-elect Joe Biden’s biggest task on Day 1 will be organizing the vaccine rollout and no one has time for any Anti-Vaxx bulls–t. Public figures who inspire trust in general will be called on to publicize their vaccine shots. This is news to Queen Elizabeth, who seemed to refuse to publicize whether or not she would get vaccinated. Well, Liz and Phil are in the highest-priority demographic for the first round of vaccines, not because of their royal status, but because of their ages. Now it seems like Liz and Phil have been persuaded to publicize their vaccine shots whenever they happen, which will likely be within the next month.

The Queen is expected to receive the Covid-19 vaccine within weeks – and then reveal she has been given it to encourage more people to take up the vital jab. Senior sources say both the 94-year-old Monarch and Prince Philip, 99, will not get preferential treatment, but will instead ‘wait in line’ during the first wave of injections reserved for the over-80s and care home residents. Both are expected to accept the offer of the injection on the advice of their doctors.

Public health experts believe that if the couple go public about the jab, it could go a long way to combating misinformation spread by conspiracy theorists which, it’s feared, could lead to a substantial proportion of the population refusing the vaccine.

Discussions are also under way about the potential roles that could be played by Prince Charles and Prince William in publicising the vaccination programme. But courtiers are wary that doing so might be seen as ‘politicising’ the family, as well as amounting to an invasion of their medical privacy.

However, the participation of the Queen in backing the jabs would be seen as a rallying cry to the nation. In 1957, she let it be known that Charles and Princess Anne had been given polio jabs to counter fears about the vaccine. The possible role of the Royals is being discussed at Buckingham Palace and in Whitehall, where officials are debating whether widely respected celebrities such as Sir David Attenborough and Dame Judi Dench could also be deployed as public cheerleaders for the vaccine.

To avoid any accusations of favouritism, senior members of the Royal Family will be offered the vaccine at the same time as others in their age groups. It means the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are unlikely to be vaccinated until next year when those in their 30s are invited for jabs. Sources last night said the couple ‘are keen to support everyone who has been involved’.

[From The Daily Mail]

They literally don’t have to even check in with Kensington Palace at this point, the media can just assume that the reaction to every positive story is “William and Catherine are very keen” and the reaction to every negative story is “William is incandescent with rage.” As for the Keens… it probably would help to ensure trust among all demographics for the entire royal family to announce that they’ll take the vaccine and follow the government’s protocols. It’s insane to me that public figures supported by taxpayers would ever get to claim “medical privacy” about something like this. Like, no one is asking about a duchess’s pap smears, all anyone needs to know is if the royals will get vaccinated, it’s that simple. William is also super-eager to change the subject away from how he completely concealed his own bad case of coronavirus for months.

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