Originally published 2021-02-26.
In late February 2021 Queen Elizabeth II, then 94, made a rare personal intervention in a public health debate. Speaking by video call to the officials running the COVID-19 vaccine rollout across the four nations of the United Kingdom, she said her own jab had been painless and urged anyone hesitating to think of others. Her words were quickly shared around the world as the most direct public appeal she had made on the subject.
Here is what she actually said, who she said it to, where Britain's vaccination effort stood at that moment, and what happened in the months that followed.
What the Queen said
The Queen and Prince Philip had received their first doses in January 2021, given by a household doctor at Windsor Castle. On the call, she described the experience simply: "it didn't hurt at all." She added that it had been very quick and that she had received many letters from people surprised at how easy it was.
The most quoted moment came when the conversation turned to people who were unsure about being vaccinated. The Queen said they "ought to think about other people rather than themselves." It was an unusually pointed remark from a monarch known for keeping her personal opinions private.
She also drew a comparison with her own memories of the Second World War, when as a teenage princess she had seen the country pull together, saying the shared effort of the pandemic felt very much like that time. At another point she described the virus as being a bit like a plague.
Who was on the call, and why it mattered
The Queen spoke with officials leading the vaccination programmes, among them Dr Emily Lawson, who led the rollout for NHS England; Dr Naresh Chada, Northern Ireland's deputy chief medical officer; and Derek Grieve, head of the Scottish government's vaccinations division. Because health is devolved in the UK, each nation ran its own programme, though they used the same vaccines and the same priority groups.
Lawson described the Queen's comments as an "incredibly important vote of confidence in the programme." Public health officials had worried for months that misinformation and mistrust would keep some groups away. A message from the head of state, given in her own words and drawing on her own experience, reached people that government press conferences did not.
The intervention was all the more noticeable because the royal family had not formally announced the couple's vaccinations at first. When the palace confirmed them in January, it reportedly did so mainly to prevent inaccurate reports and speculation, a sign of how much interest there was.
Where the UK rollout stood in February 2021
Britain had moved quickly. It was the first country to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, in December 2020, and the first to begin a mass rollout, followed by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine at the start of January. By the time of the Queen's call, more than 18 million people across the UK had received a first dose, roughly a third of all adults.
The country was also coming out of a harsh winter wave. More than 120,000 deaths had been recorded within 28 days of a positive test, one of the highest totals in the world and, at that stage, one of the highest per head of population. Hospitals had been under severe pressure in January, which helped explain the urgency of the rollout.
The programme moved through priority groups by age and health risk, starting with care home residents and staff, people over 80 and front-line health workers. Second doses were spaced up to 12 weeks apart, a contested choice at the time that allowed more people to get some protection sooner.
Vaccine hesitancy and trusted voices
Surveys in early 2021 found that most people in Britain were willing to be vaccinated, and uptake among older people turned out to be very high. Hesitancy was more common in some younger age groups and in some ethnic minority communities, often linked to distrust, worries about side effects or simple misinformation spread on social media.
Research on health messaging consistently finds that people respond best to messengers they already trust, and to clear accounts of personal experience rather than abstract statistics. That is why rollout teams worked with doctors, faith leaders, community figures and celebrities, and why a calm, first-hand account from a 94-year-old who had already had the jab carried weight.
If you have questions about any vaccine today, including whether a booster or a seasonal dose is right for you, the best step is to talk to a doctor, nurse or pharmacist who knows your health history.
Prince Philip's illness and what followed
The call took place while Prince Philip, then 99, was in hospital. He had been admitted to King Edward VII's Hospital in London on 16 February 2021 after feeling unwell, as a precaution according to the palace, and was later moved for treatment of an infection and a pre-existing heart condition.
He returned to Windsor Castle in March and died there on 9 April 2021, two months before his 100th birthday. The Queen died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on 8 September 2022, aged 96, after a reign of 70 years, the longest of any British monarch.
How the moment is remembered
The Queen made only a handful of public statements during the pandemic, and each was carefully chosen. Her April 2020 broadcast, with its promise that the country would meet again, is the best known. The vaccine call was smaller and more informal, but it was the clearest sign of where she stood: she had taken the vaccine, she found it easy, and she believed protecting others was a reason to take it.
For the officials who ran the rollout, it was a welcome boost at a key point, just as the programme began moving from the oldest and most vulnerable groups towards younger adults.
Sources: Yahoo News, February 2021: "It didn't hurt at all": Queen calls on all Britons to get the COVID vaccine; BBC News, 25 February 2021: Queen urges people to think of others and get Covid vaccine; KTVU/Fox, 9 April 2021: Prince Philip dies at 99; Michigan Public/NPR, 8 September 2022: Queen Elizabeth II has died at 96.
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