HAYLEY PEARCE | INTERVIEW

 

The third series of Hayley Goes…, in which Maesteg native and ex-Call Centre reality TV graduate Hayley Pearce inserts herself into various socially relevant situations, kicks off this week on the Vaccine Frontline. And to promote it, she dialled the Carl Marsh hotline.

 

This episode is about your choice to have the COVID-19 vaccine – or not – and getting facts from the experts to lead you to your eventual decision. Where did your vaccine fear come from in the first place?

When the pandemic first happened, it was new to us all – nothing like this had happened to us before in our lifetime. And with everyone being on social media, the conspiracy theorists all come out! People saying COVID was not even real, it was a hoax and shit. As time went on, you started seeing people you know having it – but at one point I thought to myself, “shit, the world is ending”.

It was the videos that were flying about on social media, although looking back now I don’t even think those videos were real. Yet this was in different countries, so you realised it was a worldwide problem, and this virus is everywhere. Do you remember at one point they were making all these temporary morgues and stuff in fields?

 

I do remember it shown on the news, yes; it certainly did its job of scaring people.

That was a very frightening thing to witness on the news. Morgues were opening up because they were worried they didn’t have enough hospital beds for people. It was a scary time. But whilst all that was going on, I was reading stuff online: this isn’t real, this is a government plan, there was more to it, the government was trying to wipe people out. That type of thing.

You can’t help but get sucked in sometimes, whether you believe what people are saying or not. You end up reading loads of stuff, and you’re open to listening to other people’s opinions. At one point, I had very intelligent and articulate friends who had done a lot of research; I was not that far down the rabbithole, so I was still open-minded, and listening to them. They were going on the WHO, I think it is?

 

WEF [World Economic Forum]?

Yeah, that’s it. So they were picking stuff up from that and, you know, going deep on their research, saying it was all a ‘scamdemic’, planned for years and not all real. Or, “It’s just the flu, why are they putting us into lockdown…”

 

You must have queried it all yourself, then?

I never thought the virus wasn’t real, but I did question how serious it was at one point as I had never known anyone who had had it. Then, as the months went on, someone you knew of had been in hospital, and you heard of more younger people getting it, not just those with health issues or the elderly. And then they started mentioning the vaccines!

I’ve got an underlying health issue – an underactive thyroid – and have been offered the flu shot every year because of that. I’ve always turned it down because I’ve thought I’m too young and don’t need it yet. When I think of a flu jab, I associate it with the elderly, or my parents. I thought I’d wait until I’m a bit older – and to be fair, I’ve never had flu.

So I thought maybe I don’t need this vaccine yet, until they started threatening us all, saying that basically you can’t fly unless you had it. Being a young person in lockdown for over a year… like everyone else, we all bloody want a holiday!

 

Did speaking to the experts settle your worries and give you answers?

What I will say is each to their own: if [other people] have done their own research, and are still 100% against it, then fine. But for me, it’s about the bigger picture in the end, it’s about loved ones, and also about my health in the long run. Also, I’d had all the other jabs in my life, so maybe I really should have this one.

 

Hayley Goes… Vaccine Frontline, BBC One Wales, Tue 1 June 10.45pm. Info: here

words CARL MARSH