LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - British health minister Sajid
Javid was accused of insulting coronavirus victims on Sunday
after urging people to take a COVID-19 vaccine and "learn to
live with, rather than cower from, this virus".
Javid, who replaced Matt Hancock as health minister last
month after his predecessor stepped down for breaking COVID
rules by kissing an aide in his office, began his job by urging
people to learn to live with the virus.
Britain, which has one of the highest official COVID death
tolls, has shifted its strategy to fight coronavirus from using
restrictions to limit its spread to opening up society in the
hope vaccines will protect most people from serious illness.
Cases are high, but so is uptake of COVID-19 vaccines, and
officials argue the shift is needed to help businesses in
sectors such as hospitality and the night-time economy.
Writing on Twitter, Javid said on Saturday he had recovered
after testing positive for COVID. "Symptoms were very mild,
thanks to amazing vaccines," he said.
"Please - if you haven't yet - get your jab, as we learn to
live with, rather than cower from, this virus."
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, was one of
several lawmakers from opposition parties and people who have
lost family members to the pandemic to criticise his use of the
phrase "cower from".
"127,000 people have died from this virus, tens of thousands
of whom would still be here if it wasn't for the catastrophic
failures of your government," she said on Twitter.
"So how dare you denigrate people for trying to keep
themselves and their families safe."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper
Editing by Mark Potter)