EXCLUSIVE: Maureen from Barnsley awaits her freedom: Plucky pensioner, 83, who said she didn’t ‘give a sod’ about Covid restrictions reveals her first vaccination was delayed due to the SNOW
- Maureen Eames, 83, was an overnight sensation after forthright lockdown chat
- She felt the restrictions were too much and declared that she ‘didn’t give a sod’
- Now she is going to be one of the first to receive the lifesaving Covid vaccine
- She told MailOnline We are now booked for next week – fingers crossed’
The plucky Barnsley pensioner celebrated nationwide after an interview where she said she didn’t ‘give a sod’ about coronavirus restrictions – is set to get her freedom with the vaccine jab next week.
Great-grandmother-of-two Maureen Eames, 83, won over millions of fans after slating the Tier 3 rules that had been due to come in to her West Yorkshire area last year.
But now she is set to get her shot for freedom after being told to come in for her Covid vaccination – as long as the weather does not scupper the plan.
She told MailOnline: ‘Unfortunately we were down for the vaccine on Thursday, but then the snow arrived.
‘We are now booked for next week – fingers crossed it happens.’
Maureen Eames, 83, will get her coronavirus vaccine next week after snow postponed it
Snow had hit Barnsley particularly hard on Thursday as freezing conditions descended there
Maureen is understood to be receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech dose, due to the age category she falls into.
Her devoted electrical engineer husband of 61 years Michael, 81, will get the treatment at the same time.
Maureen became an overnight celebrity in October after a vox pop TV interview as Barnsley was about to be moved into Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions.
She said she thought it was ‘ridiculous’, vulnerable people should be kept home safe and young people should not be saddled with lockdown debt.
Mauren Eames,83, and her husband Michael Eames, 81, after she became a well-known figure overnight over lockdown views
Maureen added: ‘We should never have been in lockdown. All the people who were vulnerable should have been helped and kept home safe.
‘And all the rest of us, I’m 83, I don’t give a sod.
‘I look at it this way, I’ve not got all that many years left of me and i’m not going to be fastened in a house when the government have got it all wrong.
‘We need…how can we get the country on its feet?
‘Money-wise? Where’s all the money?
‘By the end of this year there’s going to be millions of people unemployed and you know who’s going to pay for it?
‘All the young ones. Not me because i’m going to be dead.’
Her passionate objections saw her interview – where she was only known by her first name – go viral around the world and jokingly touted as the next Prime Minister.
MailOnline was the first to track her down and she put the world to rights in her exclusive interview.
She said she had decided to speak out after being infuriated by doom-mongers damaging the economy and terrifying the public.
Maureen, who grew up during World War II, said: ‘Life has to go on.
‘The biggest thing is that all the people are afraid at the moment.
‘This government have scared people from the start to get them into lockdown
‘We went out having meals at half price and then we are looking at another lockdown.
‘We can’t afford it – all we need to do is keep safe and sensible
‘In my lifetime I am 83 – I never thought I would feel like I was in Italy when Germany invaded. This is a free country for God’s sake – or I thought it was
‘I have had the virus, I had it the end of May. I didn’t realise until I spoke to the doctor. I had a dry cough and pains in my lungs and was very, very tired.
‘But I am fit and well and I got through it. After ten days I was back to normal.
‘I didn’t consider it incredible, I am a fit person.
‘My husband has had it too and he has recovered.’