Queen feels 'protected' after vaccine and urges people to 'think about others'

The 94-year-old Queen delivered an unusual call-to-arms on Thursday, insisting that her own jab "didn't hurt at all" and made her "feel protected".

Some 600,000 people out of 1.7 million added to the shielding list last week are now being invited to book a slot for a vaccine, NHS England said, while the remainder has already had their jabs as part of the first phase of the vaccination programme.

The monarch and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, who is now in hospital receiving treatment for a non-Covid infection, received their vaccines from a household doctor at the queen's Windsor Castle residence, with their age putting them in the priority group for England's coronavirus vaccine rollout.

The monarch replied: "Once you've had the vaccine you have a feeling of, you know, you're protected, which is I think very important".

The Queen later said: "I think the other thing is that it is obviously hard for people to ... if they've never had a vaccine, they ought to think about other people rather than themselves".

Which COVID-19 vaccine did the Queen have?

To date, a total of 18.6 million people have been given at least their first dose of an approved COVID-19 vaccine in the United Kingdom, according to the latest government figures.

She said it was big and the beds were comfortable but the food "wasn't always kid-friendly", adding: "Other than that, the security was really nice and very supportive".

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The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall have both received their first doses of the vaccine, with Camilla saying she "leapt for joy" after getting her jab.

Praising the sense of community spirit during the pandemic, Grieve said: "If I could bottle this community spirit and use it not just for the vaccination programme but for other things, the job would be done".

And the Duke of Cambridge said at a vaccine centre in Norfolk on Monday that he would be at the "front of the queue" for a vaccine to help to reassure people of its safety, but that he would "wait my turn".

This will have a pretty significant boost to the wider health community in the UK.

Ex-royal press secretary Dickie Arbiter, while talking the Royal Beat on True Royalty TV, said, "I think it was at the request of the Duke that the Prince of Wales visited".

The Queen said the national fight against coronavirus reminded her of the war years when everyone pulled together.

"Because it's not only here that we've got the virus but it's everywhere, so it's a odd battle that everybody's actually fighting". "And I think this has rather, sort of, inspired that - hasn't it?"

"Wouldn't it be nice!" the Queen joked.

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