Boris Johnson says anti-vaxxers are 'nuts' and warns over second covid-19 spike

24 July 2020, 10:15 | Updated: 24 July 2020, 14:38

Anti-vaxxers are ‘nuts’ – Boris Johnson

EJ Ward

By EJ Ward

The Prime Minister has hit out at so-called anti-vaxxers branding them "nuts" as he warned Covid-19 could return.

Boris Johnson said he wants "everybody to get a flu jab in the run-up to this winter".

During a visit to a GP surgery in London Mr Johnson reportedly said: "There's all these anti-vaxxers now."

Speaking to nurses at the Tollgate Medical Centre in Beckton, East London the PM said: "They are nuts, they are nuts."

Read more: Face-coverings: What are the new rules about masks in shops? Everything you need to know

Boris Johnson meets staff at a GP in east London today
Boris Johnson meets staff at a GP in east London today. Picture: PA

Speaking to Sky News, he said: "We want everybody to get a flu jab in the run-up to this winter and that's why we're rolling out the biggest-ever programme of flu immunisation.

"And we're aiming first of all for schoolchildren up to year 7, for pregnant women, for people over 65, for people who are shielded, but then we will be extending it to people who are 50 to 65.

"Now the reason for doing this is to protect the NHS in the winter months because obviously we have still got Covid, we have still got the threat of a second spike on Covid, and it's vital therefore to keep that pressure off the NHS by everybody getting a flu jab and I really hope everybody will."

Read more: Supermarkets and shops refuse to enforce new face-coverings rule

The Prime Minister said getting a flu jab is something that can help to "protect the NHS".

He told Sky News: "I just urge everybody in those groups to do it.

"It is something you can do to protect yourself against flu but it's also something that we can all do to protect the NHS.

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