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Andrew Lloyd Webber: People who refuse coronavirus vaccine are selfish

Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber speaks during the unveiling of the Wall of Fame, a new art installation at the London Palladium in London.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has said those who refuse the COVID vaccine are selfish. (PA)

Andrew Lloyd Webber has said people who refuse to be vaccinated against coronavirus are selfish.

The 73-year-old West End musical composer - who volunteered to be part of an early trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine last August in a bid to help combat the pandemic - has compared those who do no accept their free COVID jabs to drink drivers who accidentally kill people.

Baron Lloyd-Webber told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "Look at it this way. You could just say 'I would like to go out and have a drink tonight and drive home and accidentally I kill somebody'.

Read more: 'Phantom Of The Opera' to close permanently in West End after 34 years due to coronavirus

"Now it seems to be that nobody’s going to go out and deliberately infect anybody with COVID but it’s completely wrong if we know the science. We know that the vaccines are very effective and we know that they are really broadly speaking unbelievably safe."

Watch: West End revival begins as first theatres reopen

The Any Dream Will Do judge said he "didn't want to think" about what would happen if the remaining lockdown restrictions are not lifted in accordance with the government roadmap on 21 June.

He added: "'I just feel so strongly at the moment, particularly the people who are not getting vaccinated and everything, just how selfish it is, because so many people depend on this June 21 date."

Baron Lloyd-Webber also cited The Queen, who said after she had received her own vaccination in February: "It is obviously difficult for people if they've never had a vaccine… but they ought to think about other people rather than themselves."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 16: Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Taylor Swift pose at the World Premiere of the new film
Andrew Lloyd Webber with Taylor Swift who starred in the 'Cats' movie in 2020. (AP)

Lloyd Webber has been vocal throughout the pandemic about the effect on the theatre and entertainment industry.

Read more: Lloyd Webber was not happy with additions to James Corden's song in Cats

Really Useful Group said it is losing up to £6m a week in box office sales, while Shakespeare's Globe and the Old Vic warned their financial losses could mean they would be forced to close down permanently.

Lloyd Webber has even offered his theatres to trial a chemical spray called triethylene glycol (TEG) that could be pumped into indoor venues to help sanitise them.

Watch: Andrew Lloyd Webber discusses trialling the COVID vaccine last year