Eric Clapton worried he would “never play again” after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. The English guitarist detailed his “disastrous” experience in a newly surfaced letter, whose authenticity was confirmed by Rolling Stone .
The 76-year-old artist shared his thoughts about COVID last year in his anti-lockdown track “Stand and Deliver” with Van Morrison. But after receiving both jabs of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer blamed the “propaganda” about vaccines in a lengthy critique about his experience that Italian architect and film producer Robin Monotti Graziadei shared on the Telegram messaging app.
“In February this year, before I learned about the nature of the vaccines, (and being 76 with ephezyma) I was in the avant garde. 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,” he wrote.
Clapton continued, “About six weeks later I was offered and took the second AZ shot, but with 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, (I suffer with peripheral neuropathy and should never have gone near the needle.) But the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone.”
In an informational leaflet provided by the National Health Service (NHS) to U.K. recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine, very common side effects include fatigue, chills, fever, headache, nausea, joint pain/muscle ache and tenderness/pain where the injection was given.
While Clapton said working with Van Morrison on “Stand and Deliver” was “when I found my voice, and even though I was singing his words, they echoed in my heart,” he also praised his newfound “heroes” such as conservative U.K. politician Desmond Swayne and former U.K. Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption, who share similar anti-lockdown beliefs.
He also teased another collaboration with Van Morrison titled “The Rebels” that’s neither “aggressive or provocative. “Where have all the rebels gone ?/ Hiding behind their computer screens/ Where’s the spirit, where is the soul/ Where have all the rebels gone,” the lyrics read toward the end of the letter posted to Telegram.
