There is a worrying Zeitgeist among twentysomethings in the Essex seaside town of Clacton.
Abby Brady, a bar worker, tells the Mail: ‘I don’t plan to have the vaccine.
‘If you’re going to get Covid, you’re going to get it. It’s about human rights.’
The 25-year-old has been following the news and social media on the subject. ‘Kate Shemirani, is brilliant,’ she says.
‘She’s a nurse in the NHS. And David Icke, he’s a scientist. And Piers Corbyn, he’s Jeremy Corbyn’s brother.’ We will examine the ‘credentials’ of the undeniably influential Shemirani, Icke and Corbyn later.
But what of Abby’s younger sister, Chloe? She too has a job which brings her into contact with hundreds of people every day — in a busy fish and chip shop — but says she’s not going to get a Covid-19 vaccination either.
‘A lot of people have had bad side-effects,’ she explains. ‘I’m following this person on Instagram. She had her second vaccine on June 29 and now she’s learning to walk again.
‘They say there’s a 90 odd per cent survival rate [with Covid] so if you’re going to catch it you’re probably going to be all right. My mother-in-law is listening to a lot of podcasts and she’s given me a lot of information. There’s just not enough long-term evidence [about potential side-effects].
‘In five years what are we going to be looking like if we’ve all been vaccinated?’ This so-called ‘anti-vaxxer’ scepticism is not confined to the Brady family.