Anti–Vaxxer in Hospital With COVID For 4 Nights Still Refuses Vaccine
The lead singer of pop group Right Said Fred, Richard Fairbrass, is still refusing to get a COVID vaccine despite being hospitalized last week after contracting the virus amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
Fairbrass, 67, who is best known for the pop group's 1991 hit song, I'm Too Sexy, was taken to a hospital in Berkshire, southern England, by ambulance last weekend after he reported struggling to be able to breathe.
The singer spent four nights in the hospital under observation before he was released from the medical center to recover from the virus at his home in Windsor, situated in Berkshire.
However, despite his time in hospital receiving treatment for COVID, Fairbrass, who has previously called vaccines for the virus a "scam," told MailOnline that he will still not be getting a jab.
"This vaccine is only for experimental use, it's on trial until 2023, there is no long-term data on it - anyone who takes it is foolish. Come 2023 and everything is fine, I'll do it then. I'm absolutely not going to have one now," Fairbrass told the outlet.
Although the "estimated study completion date" of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is May 2023, the shot has been given emergency use authorization in the UK and U.S. alongside several other countries across the world.
It is standard practice for pharmaceutical companies to continue studying vaccines, which have gone through safety checks and trial phases before being administered to the public after they have been authorized for use.
Meanwhile, the NHS website in the UK states that "millions of people have had a coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine and the safety of the vaccines continues to be monitored. Reports of serious side effects are very rare."
Public Health England states that the "Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalization after 2 doses," while the "Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92% effective."
So far, around 71 percent of the UK population have had at least their first shot, with studies showing that being vaccinated offers the greatest protection against COVID compared to having been infected by the virus previously.
Speaking about his time in hospital, Fairbrass confirmed to MailOnline that he tested positive for COVID and described his symptoms of feeling a "little breathless" and "very tired."
Right Said Fred first caused controversy surrounding COVID in September 2020 when they posted a photo on Twitter of an anti-lockdown protest that Fairbrass alongside his bandmate and brother Fred Fairbrass attended.
The band has repeatedly used its social media handles to post messages against face masks and lockdowns and claimed that they would never eat at Subway again after the company said only vaccinated people could sit in its stores.
Newsweek has contacted a representative of Fairbrass for comment.
