Legendary rocker Eric Clapton said he had a “disastrous” reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine and blamed “propaganda [that] said the vaccine was safe for everyone” after he was left fearing he’d “never play again.”
“I took the first jab of AZ and straight away had severe reactions which lasted ten days. I recovered eventually and was told it would be twelve weeks before the second one,” Clapton said in a letter to architect and anti-lockdown activist Robin Monotti Graziadei, which was shared with Clapton’s permission.
Clapton, who received the AstraZeneca shot in February, added that he was later offered the second dose after six weeks, which he accepted only because he had “a little more knowledge of the dangers.”
“Needless to say the reactions were disastrous, my hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks, I feared I would never play again,” Clapton wrote.
ERIC CLAPTON TEAMS UP WITH VAN MORRISON IN ANTI-LOCKDOWN SONG THAT IMMEDIATELY DRAWS CRITICISM
Clapton noted that he “should’ve never gone near the needle” because of his “peripheral neuropathy” but added the “propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone.”
“I continue to tread the path of passive rebellion and try to tow the line in order to be able to actively love my family, but it’s hard to bite my tongue with what I now know,” Clapton wrote.
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine has been approved for use in the United Kingdom and European Union but has yet to gain approval in the United States because of its links to causing blood clots. The CDC outlines on its website that the vaccines approved in the U.S. are safe and effective and “does not recommend one vaccine over another.”
Clapton, who has long been a vocal opponent of governments locking down in response to the virus, collaborated on Van Morrison’s anti-lockdown song “Stand and Deliver” in December of last year.
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“I’ve been a rebel all my life, against tyranny and arrogant authority, which is what we have now,” Clapton said of the song. “But I also crave fellowship, compassion and love … I believe with these things we can prevail.”
