Hounslow’s Best Defenders
We’ve been talking to people across Hounslow to find out why they’re getting vaccinated. We’ve discovered that many people are doing so because they want to keep others safe, as well as themselves. When you get the vaccines, you can join these people as part of Hounslow’s Best Defenders, keeping all of us safe from potentially fatal illnesses.

Eva and Herbert
Two of these amazing people are Eva and Herbert King. Eva, who is 84 and has been married to Herbert for 52 years, said: “I take the Covid-19 and flu vaccines to protect others, not just myself. I think everybody should take the vaccines, it’s for the protection of all of us, the whole community.”
Herbert was forced to flee his native Austria in 1938 and says he was “lucky that my mother was active in getting us out through the Kindertransport arrangements.”
After facing such hardship early in life, he and Eva have been protective of their health throughout their lives. He has taken the Covid-19 vaccine eight times, and the flu jab many more. Eva credits him taking regular vaccinations with being in good health past his hundredth birthday.
“We get vaccinated to protect each other and to keep him alive,” she said. “We both had Covid-19 this summer, around the time of his hundredth birthday. The fact that they were both relatively mild cases and we were able to celebrate his birthday with our family is down to the fact we both had a Covid-19 booster just a month earlier.
“I would also encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. I do get fearful that we will come into contact with unvaccinated people and that could put our health at serious risk.”