Dame Esther Rantzen, 80, who has spent 10 months in isolation receives Covid jab as she hopes to be reunited with her family in February
Dame Esther Rantzen has praised 'dedicated' health workers after she received a jab of the coronavirus vaccine.
The veteran campaigner, 80, said she was 'thrilled' to be offered the 'miracle' shot at Milford War Memorial Hospital in Lymington, near her New Forest home in Hampshire.
She has spent the last 10 months in isolation away from her family but hopes the vaccine will mean she will be able to see her grandchildren in February after getting a second jab.
Dame Esther Rantzen has praised 'dedicated' health workers after she received a jab of the coronavirus vaccine
'I was thrilled when my GP's surgery rang and I was summoned for my jab. We eighty-year-olds are so privileged to receive the best, the only effective protection against Covid,' she told the Express.
'I feel so grateful to the dedicated scientists who invented it and the equally dedicated NHS who deliver it to us. It's a miracle.'
Dame Esther became a household name as the presenter of That's Life! which lasted for 21 years, during which time she set up the children's protection charity ChildLine.
In 2012, she helped create The Silver Line, a confidential helpline designed to combat loneliness for older people's.
Dame Esther warned that lockdown restrictions had created a daily battle against isolation and loneliness for pensioners.
She has been unable to see her five grandchildren Benji, seven, Xander and Teddy five, and Florence and Romilly, two, and her string of friends since March.
Dame Esther warned that lockdown restrictions had created a daily battle against isolation and loneliness for pensioners
Her documentary maker husband Desmond Wilcox died in 2000, something Dame Esther has admitted struggling to come to terms with.
But Dame Esther pleaded with fellow octogenarians to stay away from their families to avoid 'putting Granny as risk'.
Writing in the Daily Mail last week, she said: 'The best gift we can offer our families this Christmas is to refuse to meet them. That’s what I’ve done, and although it wasn’t easy, I believe it’s time for us older people to be brave and firm, and tell our families to stay away.
'They know we love and miss them, but let’s prove it by agreeing to put Christmas off for six months.'
Several famous faces in the vulnerable over 80s category have already revealed they have had the vaccine, including the likes of Bake Off judge Prue Leith, actor Sir Ian McKellen, and presenter Lionel Blair
She said: 'My family lives in London, in Tier 4, where the numbers of infections and deaths are on the increase. No way do I wish my family to remember this Christmas as the year they killed granny.'
Several famous faces in the vulnerable over 80s category have already revealed they have had the vaccine, including the likes of Bake Off judge Prue Leith, actor Sir Ian McKellen, and presenter Lionel Blair.
Sir Ian praised the NHS as he took the jab, joking he wants to 'give them all a big hug' after having his jab.
'Next time I come, well no, six days after I next come I'm going to give them all a big hug - is that allowed? I don't know.'
The actor also urged other to get the vaccination when they were contacted by the NHS.
'Anyone who has lived as long as I have is alive because they have had previous vaccinations, the take up amongst the older generation will be 100% - it ought to be – because you’re having it not just for yourself but for people who you are close to – you’re doing your bit for society,' he said.