Prince Harry recently made a surprise appearance at the GQ Men of the Year Awards. The royal appeared via video link to the bash to speak about vaccines, urging people to ignore media “misinformation”.
The Duke of Sussex appeared at the awards ceremony last week to congratulate the scientists behind the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
He beamed in live from California, where he now lives with his wife Meghan Markle and their children, to make a speech.
Prince Harry used his platform to make an impassioned plea for everyone to be able to access vaccines.
He said: “Until every community can access the vaccine, and until every community is connected to trustworthy information about the vaccine, then we are all at risk.
“That’s a common refrain my wife and I have heard in convenings with vaccine experts, heads of industry, community advocates, and global leaders.”
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The royal went on to add: “Families around the world are being overwhelmed by mass-scale misinformation across ‘news’ media and social media, where those who peddle in lies and fear are creating vaccine hesitancy, which in turn is dividing communities and eroding trust.
“This is a system we need to break if we are to overcome Covid-19 and the rise of new variants.”
Prince Harry’s speech was recently called into question by royal biographer Lady Colin Campbell.
As a staunch critic of the Duke of Sussex, she reflected on the speech in one of her recent YouTube videos.
However, Lady Colin did admit he was right about some problems to do with anti-vaxxers.
Although she was keen to say people are allowed to have their own opinions about having the vaccine.
“Harry’s paranoia is slightly misguided because people do have a right to a differing opinion,” she continued.
However, others praised Prince Harry’s appearance at the ceremony and the words he had to say.
Following the ceremony, the scientists who won the award, Dr Catherine Green and Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, were among those applauding the royal.
“I know, we didn’t know that was going to happen,” Dr Green explained.
“So suddenly Prince Harry is on stage and he said all of the things we wanted to say about the essential necessity to get the vaccine to the world for people irrespectively of their ability to pay. Really important message.”
Dame Sarah added: “Yes, because we are not going to be safe until everyone is safe, and it is really important to get the vaccine to everyone around the world.”
