Defensive Midfielders
JVT, a Boston United fan, likened the vaccination program to defensive football players whose job it was to “keep an eye on everyone.”
At a press conference in Downing Street he said: ‘A bit like a football game where the strikers who score the wonder goals are the ones who make the headlines, actually the hard yards are done by the defenders and by the defensive midfielders who go back 90 minutes from the follow the whole game, keep an eye on everyone.
“This is what it’s all about now, looking back and making sure we get the job done right in the first cohort phase before moving on.”
Grand National
He compared the pandemic to the Aintree horse race when he warned Britain could not fall at the last fence.
“The effects of the vaccine will be three months before we can see them properly, and until then no one can relax,” he told The Sun.
“We are probably in the final stages of this race, like in the Grand National. We still have a few fences, we just have to stick to them.’
Sanctions
Football is a common tool used by JVT to explain Britain’s progress through the coronavirus pandemic.
He once described the development of the Pfizer vaccine until reaching the penalties at the end of the playoff final.
“So this is like… getting to the end of the play-off final, it’s penalties, the first player goes up and scores a goal.
“You haven’t won the cup yet, but what it does is, it tells you the keeper is beatable.”
Land a plane
The progress of the vaccine rollout has been compared to various modes of transportation, including a plane landing.
JVT said, ‘Do I believe we are now on the glide slope to land this plane? Yes I do.
‘Do I accept that sometimes when you’re on the glide slope you can have crosswinds and the landing isn’t quite straight, totally textbook? Naturally.’
Overcrowded trains
JVT said the pandemic was like waiting on a platform for a train, with the lights “far away.”
He said, ‘This is like a train ride to me, it’s wet, it’s windy, it’s terrible.
“Two miles on the track, two lights come on and it’s the train and it’s a long way and we’re at that point right now. That is the result of the efficacy.
‘Then we hope that the train brakes safely to get to the station, those are the safety data, and then the train stops.
‘And at that moment the doors won’t open, the guard has to make sure it’s safe to open the doors. That’s the MHRA, that’s the regulator.’
He said the train was the vaccine, and he hoped there wouldn’t be an “unholy battle for the seats” when it was finished.
“The JCVI has said very clearly which people need the seats the most and they are the first to get on the train.”
Red card
JVT said Brits should avoid getting a ‘red card’ from the Omicron coronavirus variant by getting a booster shot.
He said: ‘Omicron is like now picking up a few yellow cards for the key players at the top. We might be fine, but we’re starting to run a little bit of a risk of going to 10 players and if that happens – or if it’s a risk that’s going to happen – then we need everyone on the pitch to up their game in the meantime. .
“We’re not going to wait for the red card to come, we’re going to act decisively now and we’re asking everyone to up their game, we’re asking everyone to play their part in the urgency now of the booster program, coming forward at the moment that you are being called by the NHS.’
Yogurt
When explaining the extreme temperature in which the coronavirus vaccine must be kept, JVT said it was not like yogurt.
He added: ‘This is a complex product. It’s not yogurt that you can take out of the fridge and put in several times.’
And other famous moments…
When he tore off his shirt
The professor took off his shirt and tie and disappeared in a cloud of smoke
Professor Van-Tam was presenting the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures on BBC Four when he tore his shirt and tie, disappeared in a cloud of smoke – and reappeared in slightly less formal attire, with a more casual blue shirt under his jacket.
The stunt sparked a typical social media reaction, with one account comparing JVT — as he has become widely known — to Alan Partridge, Steve Coogan’s comedic character.
When he was quiet with an anti-vaxxer
JVT remained completely calm and politely responded to an anti-vaxxer who taunted him in Westminster last June.
Geza Tarjanyi, 60, of Leyland, Lancashire, attacked the deputy medical director as he entered the Ministry of Defense building.
He said, ‘Are you Van-Tam, aren’t you? What was in that needle you put in Matt Hancock anyway? Why do you constantly lie to the British people? Why are you laughing? This country would be in the worst pandemic of all time.’
Professor Van-Tam replied politely, “Yes.” And when, after another torrent of abuse, the anti-vaxxer asked JVT if he was listening, the expert said, “What? I find it hard.’