Kate Garraway shut down Stanley Johnson’s suggestion the coronavirus vaccine could be a “get out of jail free card” for those to receive it to live “carefree” lives during an interview on Good Morning Britain.
On Friday morning, Kate and co-host Ben Shephard spoke to the prime minister’s 80-year-old father, as he prepared to receive his second Covid-19 jab.
“I had my first jab on 18 December,” Johnson explained. “So I guess three weeks on is today. And I’m very much looking forward to it. I don’t have to go far, and I think I’m going to be fancy-free after that.
“One thing that’s not quite clear to me is what rules are applied to people who’ve [had the vaccine], have we got a get out of jail free card? But I think probably not. I think… we’ll still have to be locked down, even though…”
Kate – whose husband, Derek Draper, has been in hospital since March due to Covid-19 complications – then interjected, telling Johnson: “I think they have made that quite clear, actually, Stanley.
“Your son has been saying this isn’t just ‘carry on in a carefree way’ [after the vaccine], because we don’t know actually whether the vaccine protects you from spreading infection, and if it works, if it only reduces the impact of symptoms, which is a huge thing, but still means you have to be very careful.”
Later in the show, Ben said: “We saw Stanley Johnson talking about what he has to do and how he has to behave, or not really knowing how he has to behave. Fortunately Kate put him right.
“He’s the prime minister’s dad, but he didn’t know, having had the second booster, what he can and can’t do.”
During their interview, Kate also pointed out that her guest’s attitude towards the virus had been “troublesome” for Boris Johnson, with his father coming under fire on several occasions throughout the pandemic.
In July, Stanley Johnson spoke out to defend a trip he’d taken to Greece, in an apparent breach of Foreign Office guidance to avoid non-essential travel, and later sparked a backlash when he was photographed shopping without a face covering.
Good Morning Britain airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.
