Professor Chris Whitty has said anti-vaxxers who “peddle untruths” about the safety of coronavirus jabs “should be ashamed” of themselves, as he urged the public to receive a vaccine this winter.
England’s Chief Medical Officer told a Downing Street press conference on Tuesday that despite people holding “strange beliefs” about vaccines being unsafe, it was a “basic principle of medical ethics” that people be allowed to choose whether to accept one.
However, he said those who prevent others from receiving the vaccine “should be ashamed” of themselves.
“There are also people who go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine, which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves,” he said.
“Many of those people, I regret to say, I think know that they are peddling untruths, but they still do it. In my view, they should be ashamed.”
At the press conference, Prof Whitty and Boris Johnson were asked about comments from Nicki Minaj, a rapper, who claimed online that a vaccine had affected a man’s testicles.
“There are a number of myths that fly around... some of which are just clearly ridiculous and some of which are clearly designed just to scare,” Prof Whitty replied.
“That happens to be one of them. That is untrue.”
Mr Johnson said he had never heard of Minaj, who has sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
The rapper later took to Twitter to express her admiration for the Prime Minister, tweeting: “I love him.”
Prof Whitty has himself been targeted by anti-vaxxers. In July, a 24-year-old man was handed an eight-week sentence suspended for two years for assaulting him in St James’s Park following an anti-lockdown protest.
At Tuesday’s briefing, Prof Whitty also sought to debunk the myth that large numbers of young people are refusing the Covid-19 vaccine.
Responding to a question about the practicality of nightclubs being asked to check vaccination status, he said it was “completely untrue” that only a small number of young people have had a jab.