A RETIRED anaesthetist from Basingstoke Hospital has written a song to encourage residents to get vaccinated against Covid.

Keith Thomson, who started working at the hospital in 1995 and retired in 2014, has recently taken up songwriting and is proud of his latest song Get Vaxin8ed.

The retired doctor told The Gazette that getting vaccinated is people's only "free way out".

He said: “For some reason, I started writing songs about a year ago and I now have about seven songs on YouTube and the one about getting vaccinated I feel really strongly about.

“People have different views and there are some people who are against the vaccine, but I feel very strongly that vaccination is the only get out of jail free card, in Monopoly terms, that we all have.”

The 74-year-old decided to start learning the guitar about 18 months ago and had never played an instrument before. After some help from a gutiar teacher he was able to put together song lyrics.

He hopes it might encourage people to get vaccinated as he shares the message in a “fun” way and is keen for residents to listen to the song.

He added: It is quite a fun song and, but it has a very serious message, and I had the idea and drafted the lyrics and my guitar teacher helped put it into a song that he could sing.

“I think there is no other option to get vaccinated at the moment and that is the problem and this is a fun way to get the message out.

"I haven’t seen many other songs about the vaccine.”

On top of his vaccination song, Keith is now helping to contribute to the UK vaccination effort by working as a vaccinator at a GP practice in Bracknell and he has so far given 1,099 jabs.

He added: “I wanted to do my bit to help, and I think I am too old now to go back to work at Basingstoke Hospital so this was a way to do my bit.”

As of New Year’s Eve 1,005,487 booster jabs have been given to people in our communities thanks to the tremendous efforts of health and care teams across the area.

The song can be found on YouTube and is just over three minutes long.

To listen to the vaccination song, visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfCXX7VNfCg&feature=youtu.be.