In the movies, Ian McKellen has defied the odds in the X-Men and Lord of the Rings films but in real life, the actor has decided not to take any chances. McKellen has become the latest celebrity to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
McKellen took to Twitter to share the experience and you can check out his Twitter post below:
While speaking to ITV News, McKellen stated "That's the real bonus of all this, to watch and see what works in this country and what doesn't work, and it seems to me the NHS is right at the top of the list of institutions for that work. Of course, I know I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for the NHS. I'm a little bit older than the NHS but when I was a kid, having good medical treatment available when it was needed, what a wonderful notion."
McKellen is 81-years-old and is set to return for his second dose of the vaccine in three weeks. The veteran actor was given the recently approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at London's Queen Mary's Hospital. The first 800,000 doses of the vaccine in the U.K. are going to people over 80 who are either hospitalized or already have outpatient appointments scheduled, along with nursing home workers. I'm guessing McKellen is part of the group that had an outpatient appointment scheduled since he came early in line to receive the vaccine. The United Kingdom became the first western country to roll out the vaccine earlier this month.
McKellen is likely the first high-profile celebrity to receive the vaccine but, yesterday, U.K. stars Prue Leith and Michael Whitehall were among the first to receive the shot. The hope by a lot of the more established names who go public taking it is that it will encourage those who are hesitant to take the vaccine. That's bound to be a pretty polarizing issue but I'm sure someone that sees a figure like McKellen taking the vaccine will at least make them consider looking into it.