Judi Dench Says She's Received the First Dose of the Coronavirus Vaccine
Judi Dench recently received the first dose of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, she revealed Thursday.
The Oscar-winning actress, 86, shared in an interview with the BBC News that she has had one shot of the vaccine and will get the booster dose in several weeks.
"I had one a week ago so I think my next is something like 11 weeks' time, that's a great start!" she said, according to Daily Mail. The United Kingdom became the first Western country to roll out the vaccine in December.
Dench opened up back in July about what life was like for her in lockdown, saying that making TikTok videos with her grandson, Sam Williams, had been a life-saving activity.
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"I know nothing about TikTok. Sam is the person who is technically minded and who has all the ideas, so he got very strict," she said in an interview with Channel 4 News at the time.
"He made me do it," Dench added, admitting she "had to rehearse all those moves. Don't just think that comes naturally."
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The Cats star added that "every day" during the pandemic is "so uncharted" and said she was spending time painting, learning Shakespeare's sonnets, and, of course, rehearsing and recording TikTok videos with Sam.
More recently, Dench reportedly told the BBC, she's been able to get back to work, something that brought her "joy" and "relief."
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"I was going to film something which has been postponed. I was, during this time, able to film with Kenneth Branagh, who wrote and directed a film about his childhood in Belfast," she said, per Daily Mail.
"It was a huge relief to do something and it was exciting too at that time," the Skyfall actress said. "Otherwise you wake up and think: 'What is the thing I will do today' and try to get something done."
Dench may be back to learning TikTok choreography, however: the U.K. is currently under its third lockdown since the pandemic began.
In England, those who leave their house without a "reasonable excuse" will be fined, the BBC reported. The U.K. has had more than 3.2 million cases of the deadly virus, according to data from the New York Times, with a daily average of 53,539 over the past week.
Other British stars including Sir Ian McKellen, Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have also received the vaccine.
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