Emmerdale star James Hooton, who portrays the role of Sam Dingle in the ITV soap, has hit out at the Covid-19 vaccine jab rollout in a series of controversial tweets.
The anti vaxxer slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his band of politicians, comparing them to the Nazi party by invoking a Winston Churchill quote, Birmingham Live reports.
It comes after the 48-year-old actor previously stated that his immune system and taking vitamins were enough to help him fight coronavirus, despite medical guidance that people should get a Covid jab.
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James has been promoting worrying anti-vaccine messages on his social platforms for several months and his latest series of tweets is no different.
The post drew comparisons to Nazi Germany.
He followed up with a Churchill quote, adding: "You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves."
He added a caption: #itsoktothink.
He also retweeted a Jordan Peterson quote, reading: "It's mystifying to see so little scepticism of oft-vilified big pharma re covid vaccines on the left. Can someone explain this?"
An ITV source told the Sun : “James is totally allowed his own opinion but what does cause some head-scratching and worry at ITV is that he’s a person in the public eye and what he says does carry some weight.
“As a company, ITV stands very much behind the government’s message of a mass-vaccination and in fact, if the country didn’t have such a high rate of vaccination, then James might be out of a job right now because Emmerdale could well still be locked down and not recording any episodes for him to star in.”
Official NHS advice says people should get a Covid-19 vaccine.
It states: "Anyone who gets COVID-19 can become seriously ill or have long-term effects (long COVID). The COVID-19 vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and others.
"Research has shown the vaccines help:
- reduce your risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19
- reduce your risk of catching or spreading COVID-19
- protect against COVID-19 variants"
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