'Best birthday present ever' says veteran actor Lionel Blair as he gets coronavirus vaccine in Surrey
Lionel turned 92 on Saturday (12 Dec)
Last updated 16th Dec 2020
Veteran entertainer Lionel Blair said it was the best birthday present ever to receive a phone call inviting him to have the coronavirus vaccine.
Lionel, who turned 92 on Saturday, had the jab today (Wednesday 16) at Epsom Downs Racecourse, one of four vaccination stations in the area served by Surrey Heartlands clinical commissioning group.
The TV presenter and West End star said it was the highlight of his year to receive it and people who did not take up the offer were ‘crazy’.
“I feel marvellous,” he said. “It didn’t hurt, it’s just like the flu jab. If people don’t get on board, they’re crazy.”
Lionel, who lives in Epsom with his wife Susan, must return in three weeks to have a second injection and will not have immunity until then.
It will be the first Christmas the couple will not be able to hug their three children and three grandchildren.
Lionel added: “It’s been a horrid year for everybody and to finish the year with the hope that this will help everybody, how wonderful.
“It means it’s going to make me live a bit longer, and to see my grandchildren growing up. It means a great deal.”
An old stager on the pantomime scene, his last panto was ten years ago, when he was doing two shows a day, including Boxing Day at the age of 82.
“I don’t dance now, except in the kitchen,” he said.
The vaccine, developed by US company Pfizer/BioNtech, is currently only being given to over-80s, care home residents and some health and social care staff invited by the NHS.
Lionel was injected by immunisation nurse Bertilla Sayers, of Walton, who normally goes around schools vaccinating the children.
“It’s a different year group here,” she explained. “I thought, nobody’s going to take a sticker here, but everybody does.
“All of them take one, because it makes them feel very important to have had it, they want everyone to know.
“The first guy I vaccinated this morning thought it was so momentous, he actually filmed himself getting it.”
The Epsom Derby winner of 1971, Geoff Lewis, returned to the racecourse to have his vaccine.
He won the Derby, the Oaks and the Coronation Cup all in the space of just one week. “It was a great week,” he said.
On retiring in 1979, for nearly 20 years, he trained other jockeys at the nearby Thirty Acre Barn.
Now 84, and living “just six furlongs from the Winning Post”, he said it felt quite normal to be there again, albeit in very different circumstances.
“I walk past it nearly every day, it’s a home from home,” he said. “There’s no other course like it in the world.”
A spokesperson for The Jockey Club said: “The response to the pandemic is a huge national effort and we‘re delighted to support the NHS in this way.
“Racecourses are community venues and have been offering help in a number of ways around the UK, including as testing locations for example. Where there’s more we can do, we’re keen to do so.”
GPs from the Epsom and Banstead primary care networks are working there 8am to 8pm immunising about 27 people an hour, and hope to deliver 975 doses in this first round.
Hilary Floyd, clinical director for NHS Seacole at Headley Court, also a GP at Leatherhead’s Molebridge practice, said: “There’s a real buzz, everyone’s really pleased to be here.”
One person had experienced a very slight allergic reaction but was fine. “It’s safe, it’s been through the trials,” Ms Floyd added. “The consequences of Covid are far worse than any minor side effects.”
Some people were turned away by security after turning up in the hope they could get it.
“It’s really important you don’t just turn up,” she continued . “You will get turned away.”