A 20-YEAR-OLD man who become seriously ill with Covid on his birthday after refusing to get the vaccine says he wants to inspire others to get the jab.

Harrison Perrin became the 200,000th person to receive a Covid-19 vaccine at Basingstoke’s GP-led vaccination centre on Thursday, October 14.

He was given the shot by nurse Nicky Griffiths and said it is a great feeling to get the milestone dose.

He said: “It is just nice to know that everybody else is getting vaccinations but obviously there are a lot of other people who are against it.

“At one point I was against it myself because I wasn’t too sure myself what the vaccine had in it.”

Harrison become ill after contracting Covid-19, which changed his mind about getting the shot and he said it was “a wakeup call”.

He said: “I actually got it on my birthday in July, and it made me really ill, and I lost just under two stone and had trouble breathing.

“When my lungs weren’t working it got me really worried.”

After becoming ill Harrison decided it would be a good idea to get vaccinated.

He added: “I thought maybe it is a good idea for me to get vaccinated just to keep myself safe.

“I am aware its not going to 100 per cent keep you safe but it’s going to make my experience a little bit less of a scare."

Harrison was at home bed bound while suffering from Covid, when he also suffered with a chest infection.

The 20-year-old, despite having youth on his side was very unwell for two weeks before slowing getting better.

He hopes to inspire younger people who haven’t already got vaccinated.

He added: “obviously with my age group a lot of people my age are against it including some of my friends.

“When I got really ill I did say to them look it is silly if we don’t get it because although we can still catch it this will save you from being as poorly as I was.”

He said he did not want to see his friends go through what he did and said “the scare was bad enough”.

Since them Harrison has been continuing to persuade his friends.

Tim Cooper, clinical director of North Hampshire vaccine programme said he thinks its “amazing” that Harrison was the 200,000th resident to be vaccinated.

He said:” I think it is a real testament to everyone pulling together whether that’s general practice or volunteers from the community, all of us have worked really hard to get to this milestone.”