Prior to receiving the Covid-19 vaccine Eric Clapton and Van Morrison released a song titled “Stand and Deliver” in which they touch on their feelings of the U.K’s response to the pandemic.
Stand and deliver / You let them put the fear on you / Stand and deliver / But not a word you heard was true / But if there’s nothing you can say / There may be nothing you can do / Do you want to be a free man / Or do you want to be a slave?
Stand and Deliver
Clapton expressed displeasure with the lockdown response, but still got a vaccine as he believed he was vulnerable to the virus due to age and pre-existing health conditions.
Following his first dose, Clapton experienced fever and chills.
I went and had the jab … within several hours, I was shaking like a leaf and I went to bed early and I couldn’t get warm … and I thought, I’m running a fever. I was boiling hot and sweating and then I was cold, and I was out for the count for about a week.
Eric Clapton Details His Vaccine Injury
Despite side effects from the first dose, he followed through with the second dose. Clapton was previously diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy, which causes nerve damage in the arms and legs that can result in pain, burning, numbness, and the feeling of pins-and-needles. Following his second dose, Clapton lost the use of his hands almost completely.
I expected it to be something that would gradually grow worse as I got older into my 80s, but always I could get some ice pack or whatever and it would be fine.
Eric Clapton Details His Vaccine Injury
Clapton also said the vaccine caused damage to his immune system, as his peripheral neuropathy got significantly worse. Clapton has worried about speaking out for fear of losing friends and family and believes this and fear of reprisal has prevented many from speaking out.
Clapton says his biggest fear about the pandemic has been the coercion by the media, the way they use fear to manipulate people into being responsible for other people’s lives.