One of the most famous guitarists in the world “can no longer play the guitar” after being vaccinated against Covid-19? This is the claim that is spreading on social networks. On June 13, a YouTube channel
posted an interview Eric Clapton, in which he explains having received two doses of AstraZeneca.
The interpreter of Layla says he was initially reluctant to be vaccinated because of a “terrible fear of needles” and emphysema, a disease that affects the lungs. The Briton finally decided to get the vaccine due to his age – 76 -, requests from relatives and the fact that the vaccine came from Oxford.
The musician suffers from a disease that affects the nerves
After his second dose, the virtuoso guitarist suffered severe pain, especially in his hands. Pain that he does not attribute to vaccination: the musician suffers from “peripheral neuropathy”, a disease which affects the nerves and which he describes as “progressive” and “incurable”. Because of this disease, Eric Clapton explains feeling “numbness or tingling”.
He explains that after the vaccination his pain increased and he could not use his hands for three weeks. However, contrary to what is said on social networks, Eric Clapton has not stopped playing the guitar. In the same interview, he explains that he was asked to perform at a private concert in the Caribbean after receiving his second dose. He will also be on tour in the United States in September.
In 2018, the guitarist explained that his “hands barely work”
In 2016, Eric Clapton had confided to the magazine Classic rock that playing the guitar had become “sometimes difficult”. Two years later he
worried to the BBC about his tinnitus and added that his “hands barely work”. His neuropathy had been diagnosed five years earlier.
Bordeaux University Hospital had not noticed, as of April 19, “no serious side effects” in 780 patients suffering from neuromuscular diseases and vaccinated against Covid-19 with the vaccines of AstraZeneca or Pfizer. Headache, fatigue and pain at the injection site were the most common side effects recorded in patients vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
Filnemus, a network focusing on the study of neuromuscular diseases and which brings together health professionals and patient associations, indicated that “there are no specific contraindications” to these vaccines for neuromuscular patients.
In May, already evoking his state of health, Eric Clapton had spoken of “vaccine propaganda”, report Rolling Stones. Last year, he participated in the recording of an anti-containment song with singer Van Morrison, hired to support musicians who can no longer perform on stage. “Do you want to be a free man or do you want to be a slave? / Do you want to carry these chains to the grave? “, Ask the two musicians in Stand and Deliver. The tone was set.